Bridges Weekly Trade News Digest • Volume 6 • Number 5 • 20th February 2002

WTO Agrees On Chairs, Ready To Begin Substantive Negotiations

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On 15 February, WTO Members re-convened their deferred General Council session (from 13 February) to agree on Chairs for both new negotiating groups and regular bodies of the WTO. The decision, based on many weeks of informal consultations by former General Council Chair Stuart Harbinson, paves the way for Members to begin scheduling the negotiations timetable to execute the mandate from the Doha Ministerial Declaration agreed in Qatar last November (see BRIDGES Weekly, 5 February 2002).

Negotiating group chairs

While Chairs from the developing country group in the WTO in general are well represented on the new slate, the two major negotiating groups — on non-agricultural market access and rules — are chaired by developed country representatives (Amb. Pierre-Louise Girard of Switzerland and Amb. Timothy John Groser of New Zealand, respectively). The other Chairpersons for the negotiating sessions are: Amb. Yolande Bike of Gabon for the Special Sessions of the Committee on Trade and Environment; Amb. Ransford Smith of Jamaica for the Special Sessions of the Committee on Trade and Development (on Special and Differential Treatment); Amb. Eui Yong Chang of Korea for the Special Sessions of the Council for Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs); and Amb. Peter Balas of Hungary for the Special Sessions of the Dispute Settlement Body.

Stuart Harbinson will now Chair the Special Sessions of the Committee on Agriculture, which many observers note to be the most politically sensitive issue to be handled in the new round. Chile’s Ambassador Alejandro Jara will chair the Special Sessions of the Council on Trade in Services.

The appointment of the trade negotiation groups means that Members can now begin sector-by-sector negotiations based on the Doha Ministerial Declaration.

Non-transparency and meeting frequency still a problem

There was some controversy over the appointment of the chair for the negotiation sessions of the Committee on Trade and Development (CTD). Pakistan pushed for its Ambassador, Munir Akram, to head the CTD, supported by China and by a number of other developing countries. Pakistan’s attempt was thwarted by the US and other developed countries, who opposed the Pakistani ambassador due to his reputation as a staunch defender of certain developing country interests. Akram’s supporters said their position was motivated by complaints against the lack of transparency and inclusiveness in the selection of the chairs, concerns that forced the General Council to end the 13 February meeting without a decision and re-convene on the 15th. "We didn’t want to delay the process any longer," Zimbabwe’s ambassador Boniface Guwa Chidyausiki said in explaining their decision to finally approve the new chairs. "I think we made our point." Even WTO Director-General Mike Moore, who will initially chair the Trade Negotiations Committee (TNC), the body responsible for supervising the Doha negotiations, told reporters on 15 February that, "Members did express, and this is fair, concern about our processes and I absolutely agree with them". Complaints about non-transparency in major decision-making processes have dogged the WTO since before the Doha Ministerial.

At the 13 February General Council session, WTO Deputy Director-General Miguel Rodriguez presented his findings on the issue of scheduling of WTO meetings. He pointed out that "developing country Members…have stressed the need for a rational approach that avoids too many meetings being held at the same time, in particular given that the Doha negotiations and work programme are now getting under way." Rodriguez warned Members that they were "headed for trouble", in that the WTO consisted of 67 bodies, plus the TNC, the two new negotiating groups, and six Special negotiating Sessions of existing bodies. Last year, there were almost 400 formal meetings, plus approximately 500 informal meetings and around 90 other gatherings, such as symposia, workshops and seminars. All these competed for Members’ time, which, given the small (2-3 persons) size of some delegations, can present a major constraint.

Rodriguez suggested a number of improvements in order to make effective participation possible in the upcoming negotiations and work programme. He urged first and foremost that existing 1995 guidelines should be followed. The 1995 guidelines include: (a) no more than two formal meetings should be held simultaneously, and only one negotiating body should meet at the same time; (b) meetings should be spread out as evenly as possible throughout the week and throughout the calendar year; and (c) meeting dates should not be altered, except for overriding political or technical reasons. In addition, he suggested that negotiating sessions should be held back-to-back with regular meetings of the relevant WTO bodies in order to facilitate participation, and that the Chair of the General Council and TNC Chairs could consider reporting regularly, preferably at ever regular meeting of these bodies, on the implementation of the above guidelines.

Rodriguez’s full submission can be viewed at: http://www.wto.org/english/news_e/news02_e/gc_ddgstat_13feb_e.htm.

The chairs of the negotiating groups will preside until the WTO’s next Ministerial Conference in Mexico due to take place in the second half of 2003. Regular WTO body chairs preside for one year.

Regular WTO bodies

Canadian Ambassador Sergio Marchi was selected to take over from Stuart Harbinson as Chair of the General Council. According to the Doha Ministerial Declaration, the TNC operates under the authority of the General Council, and according to the decision taken on 3 February, the TNC should report to each regular meeting of the General Council.

Chairs for the regular bodies for 2002 are as follows:

Dispute Settlement Body: Ambassador Carlos Pérez del Castillo (Uruguay) Trade Policy Review Body: Ambassador Amina Chawahir Mohamed (Kenya) Council for Trade in Goods: Ambassador M.Supperamaniam (Malaysia) Council for Trade in Services: Ambassador Mary Whelan (Ireland) Council for TRIPS: Ambassador Eduardo Pérez Motta (Mexico) Committee on Budget, Finance and Administration: Mr Neil McMillan (United Kingdom) Committee on Balance-of-Payments Restrictions: Ambassador Anda Cristina Filip (Romania) Committee on Trade and Development: Ambassador Toufiq Ali (Bangladesh) Committee on Regional Trade Agreements: Ambassador Boniface Guwa Chidyausiku (Zimbabwe) Committee on Trade and Environment: Ambassador Oðuz Demiralp (Turkey) Working Group on the Relationship between Trade and Investment: Ambassador Luiz Felipe de Seixas Corrêa (Brazil) Working Group on the Interaction between Trade and Competition Policy: Professor Frédéric Jenny (France) Working Group on Transparency in Government Procurement: Ambassador Ronald Saborío Soto (Costa Rica) Working Group on Trade, Debt and Finance: Ambassador Hernando José Gómez (Colombia) Working Group on Trade and Transfer of Technology: Ambassador Stefán Haukur Jóhanesson (Iceland) Committee on Agriculture: Dr Magdi Farahat (Egypt).

For further information on WTO bodies, see: http://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/whatis_e/tif_e/org2_e.htm. On the Trade Negotiations Committee and the Doha agenda, see: http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/dda_e/dda_e.htm.

"WTO Members Reach Agreement On Chair Lineup for Subsidiary Bodies," WTO REPORTER, 19 February 2002; ICTSD Internal Files.