Bridges Weekly Trade News Digest • Volume 10 • Number 40 • 29th November 2006
Doha Round Discussions Intensifying In Geneva
Geneva-based trade diplomats have stepped up the pace of talks at the WTO after receiving the green light from Director-General Pascal Lamy to resume discussions on all issues in the troubled Doha Round negotiations. The chairs of most of the negotiating groups have been consulting with delegations to try to determine how best to proceed. However, no path out of the impasse in the talks has become visible, as Members have not explicitly come forward with changed bargaining positions.
Delegates had been meeting amongst each other informally since July, when work in the various negotiating groups ceased with the suspension of the talks due to persistent differences on farm trade. In his 16 November speech to Members authorising what trade diplomats are calling a ’soft relaunch’ of the negotiations, Lamy left it to the negotiating group chairs to decide how to move forward, "bearing in mind the different circumstances" of their respective committees (see BRIDGES Weekly, 22 November 2006).
The WTO chief also said that "fully-fledged negotiations" — especially those at the ministerial-level — would remain premature until Members came forward with concrete new proposals, particularly for expanding agricultural market access and cutting farm subsidies.
Chairs proceeding at different paces, led by ag
Sources report that the negotiating group chairs have largely been sounding out Members to hear their views on the state of the talks. While some are still at the stage of meeting with individual delegations or small groups of them, others — most notably the chair of the crucial farm trade negotiations — have already convened gatherings of the entire WTO membership, or are planning to do so soon.
Agriculture Chair Ambassador Crawford Falconer (New Zealand) has held a series of ‘fireside chats’ with a group of around two dozen ambassadors, focusing on market access and domestic support issues. He already organised one ‘transparency forum’ on 10 November for all Members to discuss the talks (see BRIDGES Weekly, 15 November 2006). Delegates indicate that he plans to hold three more ‘fireside chats’ before the end of the year, as well as additional meetings for the entire membership.
Alongside these consultations, delegates indicate that different groups of countries have been working to refine their negotiating positions, notably with regard to the specific flexibilities that developed and developing countries will receive to shield some products from the full force of tariff cuts. For instance, the G-33 and G-20 are believed to be looking at their list of indicators for identifying ’special’ products. The US in particular has argued that the value of market access proposals cannot be properly assessed in the absence of specifics about these flexibilities.
As for the negotiations on non-agricultural market access (NAMA) — the third side of Lamy’s ‘triangle’ of central issues in the Doha Round together with farm subsidies and tariffs — Chair Ambassador Don Stephenson (Canada) has also been consulting with different delegations and Member groupings. Sources suggest that he has been attempting to ascertain if countries have any new concessions to offer, as well as whether they want to resume NAMA discussions immediately from where they left off in July, or to wait for signs of initiative from the farm trade talks before starting in earnest.
Trade diplomats report that services Chair Ambassador Fernando de Mateo (Mexico) held a meeting on 29 November, where he indicated that he would be available all of next week to meet with delegations wishing to discuss their interests and priorities with regard to the resumption of negotiations.
Trade facilitation, environment also discussed
Trade facilitation negotiations Chair Tony Miller (Hong Kong) held an informal ‘transparency’ meeting on 28 November for delegates from all Member countries, following smaller consultations earlier in the month. Prior to the suspension in July, trade facilitation was one of the few issues in the Doha Round negotiations that appeared to be heading for agreement on schedule. Members still need to agree on which proposed provisions for simplifying customs procedures and cutting trade-related red tape they want in an eventual agreement, and which to leave out. Only then will they be able to start developing a legal text.
Miller indicated that there was support for resuming technical work, according to one negotiator. However, Members appeared to vary in their enthusiasm for pushing forward on trade facilitation. Some developing countries such as India, the Philippines and Egypt stressed the need to address issues of interest to them, such as special and differential treatment (S&D). The trade facilitation talks are supposed to enhance developing countries’ ability to participate in international goods trade.
Consultations on environmental goods and services have not yet expanded to include all Member delegations at once. On 24 November, environment negotiating group Chair Ambassador Toufiq Ali (Bangladesh) convened separate meetings for the proponents of each of the two main methodologies proposed for expediting trade liberalisation for environmental goods and services. Sources suggest that differences remain largely intact between the mostly developed countries that favour the ‘list’ approach that would identify specific eligible products, and supporters of the ‘project’ approach that calls for temporarily liberalising access for goods used in approved environmental projects. Ali said that he would continue his consultations, and asked countries to be ready for further meetings.
One trade diplomat said that Ambassador Burhan Gafoor (Singapore), who chairs the negotiations on special and differential treatment, was expected to host an informal, low-profile meeting of some eight to ten developed and developing country delegations on 30 November.
Although the issue is not part of the Doha Round single undertaking, negotiators expect the committee tasked with reviewing the functioning of WTO dispute settlement understanding (DSU) provisions to meet before the end of the year. A number of Members a few weeks ago restarted informal meetings to debate ideas for DSU reform. Though not a group in the sense that participation is unrestricted and they do not seek to submit joint proposals, this forum is occasionally dubbed the ‘Mexican group,’ since its meetings are coordinated by the Mexican mission.
US lawmakers say progress could help TPA
A group of six US Congressmen in Geneva to meet with Lamy on 29 November said that progress in the negotiations over the next few months — especially on market access — could help the Bush administration secure Congressional support for extending its ‘trade promotion authority’ (TPA) mandate.
Lamy has said that concrete progress in the negotiations is necessary by spring 2007 for there to be a chance of concluding the round later that year, a view shared by several trade negotiators.
The narrowness of this ‘window of opportunity’ is primarily due to the July 2007 expiry of the president’s TPA mandate. TPA allows him to negotiate trade deals and submit them for a yes-or-no vote by Congress without the possibility of amendment. Countries are reluctant to finalise trade deals with Washington in its absence, since Congress would then be free to make specific changes to negotiated agreements. Though concluding the Doha Round by June is not possible, enough progress towards a deal by March or April may be enough to convince Congress to extend the president’s TPA.
Associated Press reports that Wisconsin Democrat Ron Kind told journalists at WTO headquarters that "substantial progress" over the next three or four months, particularly on market access, "may provide more momentum in Congress where TPA is concerned." He also suggested that it might influence Congressional policy on farm subsidy reform.
Amorim, Nath coming to Geneva
Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim and Indian Commerce Minister Kamal Nath are set to arrive in Geneva later this week, where both are expected to speak at a 1-2 December conference on the WTO organised by the Inter-Parliamentary Union. Japan’s agriculture minister, Toshikatsu Matsuoka, will also take part in the meeting, along with WTO ambassadors from the EU and the US. However, it is not clear whether they will actually meet with each other to discuss the Doha Round negotiations.
US trade officials declined a 27 November suggestion by EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson to hold a small ministerial-level meeting on the WTO talks before the end of the year. According to Reuters, they said that "quiet conversations" were more likely to achieve concrete results. Mandelson disagreed, arguing that waiting until the end-January World Economic Forum summit in Davos for ministerial-level discussions would be too late given the short ‘window of opportunity’ in 2007.
"US rebuffs European plan to invigorate Doha," REUTERS, 27 November 2006; "EU proposes ministers push soon for Doha deal," REUTERS, 27 November 2006; "US Congressmen: WTO progress would influence farm bill, TPA decisions," ASSOCIATED PRESS, 29 November 2006.