Bridges Weekly Trade News Digest • Volume 8 • Number 43 • 15th December 2004

WTO Negotiations Committee Looks Ahead To 2005

Do More

Subscribe to Bridges

* required

Email Address: *

Country: *
Albania Algeria American Samoa Andorra Angola Anguilla Antarctica Antigua And Barbuda Argentina Armenia Aruba Australia Austria Azerbaijan Bahamas, The Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bermuda Bhutan Bolivia Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana Bouvet Island Brazil British Indian Ocean Territory Brunei Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burundi Cambodia Cameroon Canada Cape Verde Cayman Islands Central African Republic Chad Chile China Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Colombia Comoros Congo Congo, Democractic Republic of the Cook Islands Costa Rica Cote D'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) Croatia (Hrvatska) Cuba Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic East Timor Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas) Faroe Islands Fiji Islands Finland France French Guiana French Polynesia French Southern Territories Gabon Gambia, The Georgia Germany Ghana Gibraltar Greece Greenland Grenada Guadeloupe Guam Guatemala Guinea Guinea-Bissau Guyana Haiti Heard and McDonald Islands Honduras Hong Kong S.A.R. Hungary Iceland India Indonesia Iran Iraq Ireland Israel Italy Jamaica Japan Jordan Kazakhstan Kenya Kiribati Korea Korea, North Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Laos Latvia Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Libya Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macau S.A.R. Macedonia, Former Yugoslav Republic of Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Malta Marshall Islands Martinique Mauritania Mauritius Mayotte Mexico Micronesia Moldova Monaco Mongolia Montserrat Morocco Mozambique Myanmar Namibia Nauru Nepal Netherlands Antilles Netherlands, The New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua Niger Nigeria Niue Norfolk Island Northern Mariana Islands Norway Oman Pakistan Palau Panama Papua new Guinea Paraguay Peru Philippines Pitcairn Island Poland Portugal Puerto Rico Qatar Reunion Romania Russia Rwanda Saint Helena Saint Kitts And Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Pierre and Miquelon Saint Vincent And The Grenadines Samoa San Marino Sao Tome and Principe Saudi Arabia Senegal Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia South Africa South Georgia And The South Sandwich Islands Spain Sri Lanka Sudan Suriname Svalbard And Jan Mayen Islands Swaziland Sweden Switzerland Syria Taiwan Tajikistan Tanzania Thailand Togo Tokelau Tonga Trinidad And Tobago Tunisia Turkey Turkmenistan Turks And Caicos Islands Tuvalu Uganda Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom United States United States Minor Outlying Islands Uruguay Uzbekistan Vanuatu Vatican City State (Holy See) Venezuela Vietnam Virgin Islands (British) Virgin Islands (US) Wallis And Futuna Islands Yemen Yugoslavia Zambia Zimbabwe

Employment Sector: *

First Name:

Last Name:

Organisation:

Enter the letters shown above:*

Download this issue

See also

WTO Director-General Supachai Panitchpakdi told the Trade Negotiations Committee (TNC) at its 9 December meeting that he plans to launch consultations early next year to encourage Members to "collectively reflect" on the organisation’s objectives for 2005.

Despite fears that negotiations would be put on hold by political transitions in the EU and the US, Supachai said that "recent political events in some Members do not appear to have led to any significant hiatus or transition period," with US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick remaining in his job and new EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson declaring the successful conclusion of the Doha Round his top priority.

Chairs’ reports in

The chairs of the non-agricultural market access (NAMA), agriculture, services, trade facilitation and development committees reported to the TNC on the progress — in most cases, the lack thereof — made in negotiations since October.

NAMA Chair Ambassador Stefan Johannesson of Iceland said that although Members have been expressing their views, there has been little progress. He urged Members to move from clarification exercises to substantive proposals, so as to make the negotiations ‘real’ rather than technical. Brazil noted that Members disagree on some of the central aspects of the discussions. Trinidad and Tobago, speaking for the group of African, Caribbean and Pacific countries (ACP), said that NAMA negotiations must deliver policy instruments, policy space, and "targeted provisions which facilitate the broadening of the narrow industrial base of [ACP countries], as well as safeguard the development… process."

Ambassador Tim Groser of New Zealand, Chair of the special (negotiating) session of the Committee on Agriculture, said that though the negotiations had benefited from the political attention they had received, progress thus far had not been significant, owing to the complexity of the technical questions involved. In his report to the TNC, he noted that there would be five "agriculture weeks" between February and July 2005, preceded by an informal consultation on 13-14 December 2004, an informal special session on 15 December (see "Agriculture Informals At WTO Address Export Financing, Blue Box," this issue) and a formal special session on 17 December of this year.

Ambassador Alejandro Jara of Chile, Chair of the special session of the Council for Trade in Services, informed the TNC of new services offers from El Salvador, Malaysia and Egypt. However, he said it was "worrying" that approximately 45 offers remain outstanding, and pointed out that negotiations were lacking in terms of substance (see BRIDGES Weekly, 8 December 2004). Several ACP countries stressed that services liberalisation has thus far failed to redress "imbalances in supply-side capacity, efficiency and competitiveness which exist among Members."

Some Members tried to de-emphasise the importance of agriculture to the negotiations as a whole, and talked about the importance of services. Others countered that agriculture was of central importance. Supachai said that Members must recognise the linkages between negotiating positions in different sectors such as agriculture, NAMA, and services.

Malaysian Ambassador Muhamad Noor Yacob, Chair of the newly-created Negotiating Group on Trade Facilitation, said that the body’s two meetings thus far had focused on context-setting aspects of the negotiations with presentations by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the World Bank and the World Customs Organization.

The Chair of the special session of the Committee on Trade and Development, Faizel Ismail of South Africa, said that little progress had been made on the 88 outstanding special and differential treatment (S&D) proposals, though he advised that negotiations could be more productive if they focused on the issues underlying the proposals. ACP members stressed that their first priority was an early harvest on agreement-specific S&D proposals that delivered economic value and made S&D more precise, effective and operational.

Speculation on pre-Hong Kong process continues

Brazil, Switzerland, Singapore and Hong Kong suggested that the December 2005 Ministerial Conference in Hong Kong should aim to complete modalities for agriculture and NAMA, including details on tariff cuts for agricultural, consumer and industrial goods. The EU and Japan suggested that if all goes well, the Hong Kong meeting should accomplish enough to enable the completion of the Doha Round in 2006. US Trade Representative Zoellick said in a 7 December press conference that he supported a 2006 timeframe, but that "a lot of things have to come together to make that successful."

Observers expect that several "mini-ministerials" will be held in coming months to take stock of the current negotiations and to prepare for Hong Kong. A number of such meetings of trade ministers from key WTO Members were held prior to the 2001 Doha and 2003 Cancun Ministerial Conferences. Although they often draw criticism due to their lack of transparency and exclusion of many WTO Member states, mini-ministerials are nevertheless seen by major WTO economies as a useful forum for moving negotiations forward. China, a regular participant at mini-ministerials, has warned about the need to ensure that countries not feel left out of the negotiation process. Already, a small group of trade ministers are planning on holding a half-day meeting in Davos, Switzerland on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in late January. The meeting’s organisers refuse to describe the meeting as a mini-ministerial, but participants are nonetheless expected to focus on WTO issues, as occurred in a similar gathering last year. Some Members are eyeing a mini-ministerial in Mombasa, Kenya, in February or March. Mini-ministerials during the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) ministerial in May 2005 and the Asian Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in November 2005 are also rumoured.

The next TNC meeting will be held on 14 February 2005.

ICTSD reporting; "Supachai Cites Positive Spirit in Doha Talks, Urges Early Planning for Hong Kong Meeting," WTO REPORTER, 10 December 2004; "Supachai Announces Process For Setting Objectives For Hong Kong Ministerial," THIRD WORLD NETWORK, 12 December 2004; "WTO Members Look To Mini-Ministerials To Move Doha Forward," WORLD TRADE ONLINE, 10 December 2004; "WTO Eyes Early 2005 ‘Mini-Ministerial’ In Kenya; Talks Still in Preliminary Phase," WTO REPORTER, 15 December 2004.