Bridges Weekly Trade News Digest • Volume 7 • Number 42 • 11th December 2003
DOHA ROUND: TALKS STALL, NEGOTIATING GROUPS TO RESUME IN 2004
On 9 December, General Council (GC) Chair Carlos Perez del Castillo (Uruguay) wrapped up a second set of informal talks he has been conducting since the failure of the fifth Ministerial Conference in Cancun in September, concluding that Members would not be able to relaunch talks at a 15 December GC meeting. Instead he told Members attending a Heads of Delegation (HODs) meeting that he would present a Chair’s report on 15 December, outlining progress thus far, identifying key issues and setting out a process for advancing the Doha round.
Members have been engaging in informal talks on four key issues — agriculture, industrial market access, cotton and the ‘Singapore’ issues of investment, competition, trade facilitation and transparency in government procurement — in order to reach a framework for restarting trade negotiations launched at Doha in 2001 (see BRIDGES Weekly, 4 December 2003).
Castillo sets out process for moving forward
The HODs meeting, which was attended by representatives of all WTO Members, heard reports by Chair Perez del Castillo and WTO Director- General Supachai Panitchpakdi, lasted only two hours.
Chair Perez del Castillo summed up the status of informal talks so far, and outlined the way ahead (to view the speech, see http://www.wto.org/english/news_e/news03_e/stat_gc_chair_9dec03_e.htm). He noted that although Members remained committed to the multilateral trade system and the round, little real negotiation and bridging of positions had taken place. In fact, Members had not found enough convergence to take ‘necessary action to conclude the round’ as requested by Ministers at Cancun. Therefore, he would not issue a new negotiating draft, but would rather submit a Chair’s report, on his own responsibility, to the 15 December GC meeting. This report would outline progress made during the informal consultations held since Cancun; identify key issues to be addressed as negotiations resume; and give a sense of possible ways ahead. He briefly outlined discussions and progress in the four key areas Members has been focusing on over the last few months, and also said he would stress the need to address specific development-related issues.
Chair Perez del Castillo suggested that all negotiating bodies, including the Trade Negotiations Committee (TNC) overseeing their work, would be re-actived next year after new chairs were elected. He said he firmly believed that "it is now essential to reactivate all of these bodies in order to ensure the transparency and inclusiveness to which we are all committed," and "added that restarting all the bodies dealing with the different aspects of the Doha agenda will enable us to give full attention to the development perspective".
D-G Supachai Panitchpakdi also addressed delegates, outlining his meetings with Ministers during travels (http://www.wto.org/english/news_e/news03_e/stat_gc_dg_9dec03_e.htm). He said he had received confirmation that Ministers remain committed to the current trade round, adding that, "the challenge, as ever, is to translate this general sense of commitment into concrete progress in the negotiations". He concluded by asking Members to engage in the process with a renewed sense of urgency and engagement.
In reactions to the plan for moving ahead, some developed country Members questioned the utility of restarting negotiating groups even though no real progress had been made in talks. Other Members, such as India, were content to return to negotiating groups, as this would ensure a transparent process.
All eyes set on Brasilia
After the 9 December HODs meeting, a number of key Members departed for Brasilia to attend a meeting of the G-20 countries from 11-12 December. WTO Director-General Supachai Panitchpakdi and EC Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy were reportedly also attending. According to Clodoaldo Hugueney, undersecretary for economic affairs at the Brazilian foreign ministry, "the meeting here has the objective of reaffirming the interest of G-20 countries and in establishing a basis for advancement of agricultural negotiations".
Final 2003 GC coming up
The 15 December GC meeting will allow Members to react to the report the Chair presents on the state of negotiations. In 2004, GC Chair Perez del Castillo will spend much of the first two months on the selection process for new chairs for the various WTO working groups, after which negotiations can resume. Chair Perez del Castillo has also indicated that Members should address the issue of the overall timetable for the Doha round early next year, as the January 2005 deadline is looking increasingly out of reach. The first GC session is tentatively scheduled for 11-12 February.
ICTSD reporting; "WTO Negotiator Concedes Govts Won’t Resume Talks By Dec," REUTERS, 9 December 2003; "G-20 trade group meets in Brasilia as WTO’s Doha Round stalls," AP, 10 December 2003.
Corrigendum: Last week’s story "WTO: Informal Talks Keep Geneva-Based Delegates Busy" indicated that some countries had recently joined the G- 20 coalition. However, only Zimbabwe has formally joined the G-20 coalition. Kenya will be attending the G-20 meeting in Brasilia on a non-committal basis. Barbados and Jamaice have not joined. We sincerely apologise for this mistake.