Bridges Weekly Trade News Digest • Volume 9 • Number 25 • 13th July 2005
Newly Acceded Members Seek Flexibility In Agriculture
A 29 June proposal from Armenia, Georgia, the Kyrgyz Republic and the Republic of Moldova (TN/AG/GEN/10) calls for additional flexibilities for these countries similar to those agreed for least developed countries (LDCs) and other vulnerable developing countries.
The low-income economies in transition that recently acceded to the WTO are currently not treated as developing countries. They are thus not automatically eligible to flexibilities accorded to developing countries; for example, they would not be able to designate special products (SPs) for limited tariff cuts, nor would they have recourse to a special safeguard mechanism (SSM) as protection against import surges. They also lack access to the existing agricultural safeguard (the future fate of which is under negotiation).
The four countries point out that the special challenges they face have been acknowledged in both the Doha Declaration and the July Package (WT/L/579). They point to the steep price of their accession to the WTO — their bound agricultural tariffs were slashed to an average of 12 percent even though agriculture accounts for half of all employment, and their levels of development are similar to those of LDCs. In terms of domestic support, their de minimis levels are bound at five percent rather than the ten percent allowed to developing countries, even though their annual per capita incomes are lower than those of many developing countries.
While Members generally are sympathetic towards these concerns, the issues are not considered ripe for substantial discussion at this point. Groser, in his assessment of the agriculture negotiations (see BRIDGES Weekly, 29 June 2005), noted that before the special challenges faced by recently acceded Members (RAMs) can be factored in, Members would have to reach a basic agreement on the core market access formula.
The G-20 proposal discussed in Dalian suggested that RAMs should be provided special flexibility, including being exempted from further tariff reductions for certain key products of "vital importance for their food security, livelihood security and rural development" that they already have liberalised (developing countries are to designate SPs based on these criteria). The RAMs would also be required to make lower tariff reductions and would be provided longer implementation periods.
ICTSD reporting.