Bridges Weekly Trade News Digest • Volume 8 • Number 44 • 22nd December 2004

Kituyi Drops Out Of DG Race; Four Candidates Remain

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CONSULTATIONS ON GEOGRAPHICAL INDICATIONS UNDERWAY

Members met on 16 December for the first session of technical consultations on whether or not to extend to other products the additional protection for geographical indications (GI) that the WTO Agreement on Trade-related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) currently accords to wines and spirits. The consultations were provided for in the July Package.

Most of the meeting’s discussions repeated traditional arguments over the extension of the scope of GI protection (see BRIDGES Trade BioRes, 6 December 2001, http://www.ictsd.org/biores/01-12-06/story1.htm). Advocates of extension such as Switzerland, the EU and Bulgaria said that future discussions should focus only on GI extensions, while opponents including Australia countered that they should be broadened to include other GI-related issues such as the Multilateral Register for GIs (currently being negotiated in the TRIPS Council) and the issue of "clawback", i.e. the EU’s proposal to reclaim terms used in other countries for the purposes of agricultural market access negotiations. The meeting’s Chair, WTO Deputy Director-General Francisco Thompson-Flôres, will prepare a list of topics to be covered by subsequent informal meetings based on suggestions by Members.

The next consultations will take place in February and March 2005. For further information on GIs, see http://www.iprsonline.org/ictsd/docs/Rangnekar_Bridges8-8.pdf

ICTSD reporting. SUPACHAI: REGIONAL TRADE AGREEMENTS THREATEN WTO SYSTEM

WTO Director-General Supachai Panitchpakdi has warned Members that the proliferation of bilateral and regional trade agreements poses a "significant challenge" to the multilateral trading system.

The Director-General submitted his annual report on developments in the international trading environment (WT/TPR/OV/10, available online at http://docsonline.wto.org) to the 16 December meeting of the Trade Policy Review Body (TPRB). In his remarks to the meeting, Supachai observed that 21 bilateral and regional trade agreements had been notified to the WTO between January and August 2004, bringing the number of notified agreements to 206. He suggested that this number could soon approach 300.

Supachai’s report noted that the number of regional trade agreements (RTAs) grew in 2004 in the wake of the failed Cancun Ministerial Conference in 2003. Notably, the report asserted that the rising number of RTAs "has eroded the scope of application of MFN tariffs, with the outcome that for a number of Members MFN tariffs tend to be the exception rather than the rule."

The report noted that the worldwide increase in RTA negotiations has been particularly pronounced in the Western Hemisphere and the Asia-Pacific region, with the US playing a leading role in the trend. Supachai told the meeting that RTAs — when fully compliant with WTO rules — "can complement multilateral efforts to liberalise trade," but could also "pose a systemic risk to the global trading system that merits closer scrutiny."

"WTO Chief Sounds Alarm Over Rising Number of Bilateral, Regional Trade Deals," WTO REPORTER, 21 December 2004.

Kenyan Trade and Industry Minister Mukhisa Kituyi has decided to drop his bid to become the next Director-General (DG) of the WTO after failing to win the support of his own government for his nomination. (see BRIDGES Weekly, 8 December 2004, http://www.ictsd.org/weekly/04-12-08/story5.htm)

Four candidates have been officially nominated to succeed current DG Supachai Panitchpakdi when his term ends on 1 September 2005: former EU Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy, former Uruguayan WTO Ambassador Carlos Perez del Castillo, Brazil’s current WTO Ambassador Luiz Felipe de Seixas Correa, and Mauritius’ Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister Jayakrishna Cuttaree. 31 December 2004 is the deadline for nominations.

The 79-member group of Asian, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) countries are expected to formally endorse Cuttaree’s candidacy this week. They had held off endorsing a candidate over the past three weeks following the surprise announcement of Kituyi’s candidacy at a 29 November - 3 December ACP ministerial meeting.

The nominees to succeed Supachai will make presentations to the WTO General Council on 26 January 2005.

"Kenyan Kituyi Reported to Drop Bid for Position of WTO Director-General," WTO REPORTER, 21 December 2004; "Poor nations to back Mauritius for top WTO job," REUTERS, 21 December 2004; "Kituyi Won’t Bid for WTO Top Job," THE NATION (Nairobi), 20 December 2004.