Bridges Weekly Trade News Digest • Volume 9 • Number 10 • 23rd March 2005
Canada, EU Criticised In AG Committee Regular Session
WTO DIRECTOR-GENERAL REMINDS MEMBERS ‘TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE’ TO MEET DEADLINES
Addressing WTO Members’ Heads of Delegation at a 21 March informal meeting of the Trade Negotiations Committee (TNC), WTO Director-General Supachai Panitchpakdi commended Members on their ‘good start’ on the path towards the December 2005 WTO Hong Kong Ministerial, but cautioned that there is an ‘immense amount of progress to be made in a very short time’.
Supachai singled out negotiations on agriculture, services and non-agricultural market access (NAMA) as priority areas. On agriculture, he said that a solution to outstanding questions — in particular the conversion of ad valorem equivalents (AVEs; see related story, this issue) — be found soon in order to maintain the momentum of the talks and to avoid serious spill-over effects into other areas of the Doha Round negotiations. On NAMA negotiations (see related story, this issue), the Director-General reminded Members that proposals from some key countries had not yet been received. He also urged Members to step up the request-offer process in time for the May deadline. Supachai cautioned that while progress in the market access areas was important, at the same time Members must not lose sight of parallel negotiations in WTO rules and development-related areas.
Supachai said that the ‘first approximation’ of negotiating modalities for Hong Kong cannot simply be a compilation of progress reports by negotiating group chairs, nor could it be a full negotiating text. Rather, he said, "it must give us confidence that we can look forward to Hong Kong in the certainty that we will be successful enough to set our sights on the finalisation of the Round in 2006." Supachai reminded Members that there were only four months before the July TNC meeting to agree on such first approximations, so "time is of the essence."
ICTSD reporting.
Canadian dairy tariffs and EU export subsidies were among the issues debated during the 16 March meeting of the regular session of the WTO’s Committee on Agriculture.
The Canadian representative confirmed that national dairy farmers had urged the government to renegotiate its commitments in order to raise import duties above the levels agreed in the WTO. Article XXVIII of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade allows countries to seek to modify their obligations by negotiating with other Members.
New Zealand was so concerned about this matter that its influential Ambassador Tim Groser, who was supposed to chair important consultations in the agriculture negotiations, attended the session. Describing the dairy sector as one of the most heavily protected globally, Groser expressed concern that Canada may potentially yield to protectionist pressure from its dairy industry lobby. He compared Canada unfavourably to the EU, which he said was implementing policies within its commitments on this matter. Australia, Brazil and the EU echoed New Zealand’s sentiments.
Furthermore, several committee Members expressed their concerns about the EU’s re-introduction of export subsidies for wheat (see BRIDGES Weekly, 16 February 2005). In spite of the fact that the EU remains within its permissible limits, critics including Argentina, Australia and Canada found the move inappropriate since Members are currently negotiating the elimination of export subsidies.
ICTSD reporting.
WTO SUB-COMMITTEE ON COTTON ADOPTS WORK PROGRAMME
The WTO Sub-committee on cotton agreed on a work programme at its second meeting on 22 March. The work programme (soon to be made available on the cotton Sub-committee’s page on the WTO website) is said to reflect the July Package (WT/L/579), which mandates the Sub-committee to work on "all trade-distorting policies affecting the sector in all three pillars of market access, domestic support, and export competition." This comes after disagreement among Members during the group’s first meeting with regard to the scope of the work programme (see BRIDGES Weekly, 23 February 2005). The Sub-committee will now be in a position to focus on more substantive aspects of the ongoing talks as they relate to cotton.
At the meeting, Agriculture (and cotton Sub-committee) Chair Ambassador Tim Groser of New Zealand reported on the status of the agriculture negotiations. A WTO Secretariat official talked to the meeting about several developmental aspects of the cotton discussions.
Representatives from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) also made presentations about their cotton-related activities. Pointing to issues arising from its current aid programmes, the EU said that it would be unable to contribute to a proposed new cotton fund. This drew concern from Benin, with support from Burkina Faso, Kenya and Senegal, which emphasised that the African cotton producing countries were not in search of handouts from WTO Members but rather help to recover from problems caused by others. The Benin representative emphasised that Africans wanted a solution to eliminate distortions in cotton trade that would enable them to benefit from their own hard work.
The next meeting of the Sub-committee is scheduled for 28 April 2005.
ICTSD reporting.
GOODS COUNCIL AGREES ON NEW CHAIRS FOR SUBSIDIARY BODIES
At its 11 March meeting, the WTO Council for Trade in Goods agreed on a list of chairs for its thirteen subsidiary bodies. These bodies include the regular session of the Committee on Agriculture (not to be confused with the special session of the Committee on Agriculture, in which the Doha Round agriculture negotiations are taking place), the Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures, and the Committee on Trade-related Investment Measures. All of the delegates elected by the Goods Council represent different member states and will serve as chairpersons of their respective subsidiary bodies for this year. Ambassador Vesa Tapani Himanen of Finland was chosen to succeed Ambassador Choi Hyuck of Korea as Chair of the Goods Council for 2005. A complete list of the new chairs of the subsidiary bodies of the Goods Council is available here.
In other developments at the Goods Council meeting, the US submitted requests for waivers for several of its trade preference schemes, including the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). The African group stated that AGOA had led to substantial increase in exports to the US.
Little progress was made on the review of the Agreement on Trade-Related Investment Measures (TRIMs). The Chair reported that Members had not achieved consensus on Brazil and India’s request for a joint WTO-UNCTAD study on the effects of TRIMs and their elimination. Brazil said that it would continue to push for the study.
"Goods Council agrees on chairpersons of subsidiary bodies," WTO NEWS, 22 March 2005.