Bridges Weekly Trade News Digest • Volume 6 • Number 35 • 17th October 2002
Macedonia Soon To Become WTO’s Number 145
EU RECEIVES ACP SUPPORT AGAINST BRAZIL-AUSTRALIA SUGAR SUBSIDY CASE
The European Union has found the ACP (African, Caribbean and Pacific group) to be an ally in the consultative phase of a brewing dispute with Brazil and Australia over European sugar subsidies (see BRIDGES Weekly, 2 October 2002). Four ACP countries with preferential access to the EU’s sugar market — Fiji, Guyana, Mauritius and Swaziland — requested last week to join WTO consultations between the EU and Brazil & Australia. Australia and Brazil, which are the world’s biggest producers of sugar cane — claim that the EU is providing export subsidies to its sugar producers in excess of its WTO commitments to limit subsidised exports to 1.6 million metric tonnes per year. Confirming expectations that the EC would use the support of its former colonies in the ACP to shore up its case at the WTO, EU Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy said the Brazil- Australia consultations request was "disastrous news" for many countries that are poorer than Australia or Brazil. According to the EC, the EU imports 1.5 to 2 million tonnes of sugar per year from the ACP under its ACP-EU sugar protocol, and sugar prices in the EU are approximately double world market prices. The EC further said it expected further ACP countries that benefit from the preferential EU scheme to submit requests to the WTO to join consultations on the side of the EU. If European, Brazilian and Australian diplomats are unable to reach an agreement by the end of November, Australia and Brazil could request the establishment of a WTO panel to rule on the case.
"Lamy Says Appeal Against EU Sugar Regime Is Bad For The ACP," EUROSTEP PAF, 11 October 2002; "EU Rounds Up Developing Trade Partners To Ward Off WTO Attack on Sugar Subsidies," WTO REPORTER, 15 October 2002; "News from the DG Trade," EU TRADE NEWS WEEKLY DIGEST, 11 October 2002.
On 15 October, the WTO’s General Council approved the report of the working party for the accession of Macedonia, clearing the way for the former Yugoslavian nation to become the WTO’s 145th Member. Macedonia, which applied for Membership in 1994, had already finished bilateral and plurilateral negotiations with WTO Members on its terms of entry last month. Once the Macedonian parliament approves the pact, the country will become a Member 30 days after the WTO Secretariat is officially informed of the ratification. Macedonia’s economy minister Besnik Fetai said he hoped WTO Membership would boost foreign investment and strengthen Macedonia’s ability to deal with the "challenges of globalisation." The old Yugoslavia was a member of WTO’s predecessor body, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), until it was suspended in 1992 as the country disintegrated into civil war. Last year, Macedonia exported goods worth USD1.17 billion, while importing goods worth USD 1.63 billion, according to the WTO. Twenty-six other countries are presently negotiating for WTO accession, many of which are either Arab, former Soviet states or other countries in the Balkans. Yugoslavia and Bosnia are also vying for WTO membership
"WTO members give green light for Macedonia to join," REUTERS, 15 October 2002.