Bridges Weekly Trade News Digest • Volume 6 • Number 13 • 9th April 2002
Dep. USTR Highlights Divergence Between US, Developing Countries On Technical Assistance
Speaking at a 3 April forum sponsored by the Global Business Dialogue and the National Foreign Trade Council in the US, Deputy US Trade Representative Peter Allgeier called upon WTO Members to "agree on what technical assistance for developing countries is mandated by the Doha Ministerial Declaration." In Allgeier’s view, such clarity is needed to "prevent [developing countries] from insisting at the next Ministerial that they did not get sufficiently broad development aid to actively participate in the new round" of WTO negotiations.
According to the Deputy USTR, the US believes that the mandate on technical assistance and capacity building relates "strictly to assisting these countries in negotiations and does not require broader development aid." As for developing countries, said Allgeier, "there’s a great danger here. Developing countries…define it very broadly." According to sources, developing countries’ broad definition of technical assistance includes development aid that will help them implement new obligations and take advantage of new opportunities. But Allgeier said that the US wants to focus narrowly on the assistance related to negotiations, though he highlighted the need for other international agencies to coordinate development efforts with the WTO.
The Doha Declaration states in paragraph 38 that, "…The delivery of WTO technical assistance shall be designed to assist developing and least-developed countries and low-income countries in transition to adjust to WTO rules and disciplines, implement obligations and exercise the rights of membership, including drawing on the benefits of an open, rules-based multilateral trading system…" Further, the commitment to well-targeted and sustainably-financed technical assistance is repeated in greater specificity in paragraphs 16, 21, 24, 26, 27, 33, 38-40, 42 and 43 of the Doha Declaration.
In recent weeks, the WTO has sought to step up its efforts in the area of technical assistance. A WTO Secretariat document circulated to delegations during a Pledging Conference held on 11 March 2002 (see BRIDGES Weekly, 12 March 2002) states that, "technical cooperation and capacity building are core elements of the development dimension of the multilateral trading system." (WT/ COMTD/W/95/Rev.1) In the Technical Assistance Plan, delegates established an extensive mandate and undertook a firm set of commitments with regard to capacity building and technical cooperation "to enable beneficiary countries to implement WTO rules and obligations, prepare them for effective participation in the work of the WTO, including for future negotiations and an extensive Work Program, as well as to enable them to draw on the benefits of the open, rules-based multi-lateral trading system."
Both the WTO Technical Assistance Plan and the Doha Declaration (para. 39) refer to cooperation with other organisations on delivery of technical assistance. According to Allgeier, however, "there needs to be clarity in terms of the division of labour between what the WTO can do and what the larger development organisations such as the World Bank and Inter-American Development Bank can do. " A point developing countries and non-governmantal observers have also tried to stress many times in the past. Some developing countries, in particular those in the Like-Minded Group such as Pakistan and Egypt, feel the WTO is not an adequate, neutral or desirable provider of technical assistance in many areas, including preparing governments for negotiations. They also do not regard it as capable of assisting developing countries in developing or strengthening their much needed analytical capacity in the formulation of trade policy and positions. "The real test will be at the Fifth Ministerial [scheduled for mid-2003 in Mexico] and the attitude of developing countries", Allgeier stated.
"Allgeier: Division Over Technical Assistance Dangerous For WTO Talks," INSIDE US TRADE, 5 April 2002; ICTSD Internal Files.