WTO Ministerial Section • Volume 7 • Number 23 • 25th June 2003

WTO Members Fail to Make Progress at Mini-Ministerial

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Trade Ministers from 31 WTO Member countries met from 21-22 June in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, for a mini-ministerial meeting, seeking to find solutions to the current deadlock under the Doha round of trade negotiations. WTO Director-General Supachai Panitchpakdi expressed his concern at the lack of movement and political will in negotiations, especially with regard to agriculture, and told ministers that time was running out for a deal. The meeting was the third mini-ministerial held since the beginning of the Doha round in November 2001, and followed up from a similar meeting of ministers in Tokyo in February (see BRIDGES Weekly, 19 February 2003). This past weekend’ meeting focussed on paving the way for the fifth WTO Ministerial Conference to be held in Cancun, Mexico in September.

EU CAP reform singled out as stumbling block

The mini-ministerial took place in the context of a meeting of EU farm ministers that had failed to approve reforms of the EU common agricultural policy (CAP) and postponed negotiations to a later date in June (see related story, this issue of BRIDGES Weekly). A number of countries stressed the need for EU reform in this area in order for the Doha round as a whole to move. Following the meeting, US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick said that, "while we’ve been discussing ways to move the negotiations forward, it’s become clear that whether we move ahead or get stuck very much depends on the European Union". Australian Trade Minister Mark Vaile stressed that, "it is now all eyes on the EU to see what they can do to make sure this process moves forward". Pascal Lamy, the EU Trade Representative, said that talks would progress within the Union, and he was expecting positive results in Cancun.

Indian commerce minister Arun Jaitley reportedly told the Sharm el- Sheikh meeting that any deal on agriculture needed to take the concerns of vulnerable developing countries into account, and that the market access that agriculture exporters were seeking in the negotiations would have to "be tempered" with sufficient provision of special and differential treatment for developing countries.

During the meeting, ministers discussed a request from Singapore for a new draft of a WTO negotiating paper on agriculture modalities, which set out the framework for negotiations. The current draft — a revision of an initial draft from January — was circulated on 18 March (see BRIDGES Weekly, 20 March 2003). George Yeo, Singapore’s trade minister, suggested that a new draft should be circulated among Members by the end of July, in time for a final mini-ministerial meeting to take place in Montreal, Canada, from 28-30 July. Japan, South Korea and Switzerland supported the idea, but the US and other agricultural exporters preferred basing talks on the existing modalities draft, fearing that a new draft would be tailored more toward the interests of countries that seek limited change in the area of agriculture.

Access to essential medicines

Other issues discussed at the meeting included access for developing countries to essential drugs. The US continued to voice concerns about potential infringements on patent rights, but said it was working to find a solution prior to Cancun. Zoellick said he was engaged in talks with the pharmaceutical industry, as well as with African countries and key developing country producers of generic drugs, such as India and Brazil. Another US official indicated that the US, which rejected a deal in December 2002 (see BRIDGES Weekly, 20 December 2002), could consider abandoning the idea of a restricted list of drugs to be covered under a deal. The idea of a list had been put forward by the US due to a fear that generic producers would begin to manufacture drugs geared toward developed country markets, such as those to treat obesity, or Viagra — a lucrative business for the pharmaceutical industry. Following the meeting in Sharm el-Sheikh, Harvey Bale, president of the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Associations, said that, "getting a solution by Cancun is important to all of us. We feel we are wrongfully being blamed for holding up progress in certain parts of the (Doha) negotiation". He went on to say that the while the pharmaceutical industry is interested in helping countries in need, it would be a "gross exaggeration and a gross distortion" to give more advanced countries such as India and China the same rights as "poor states like Haiti, Namibia or Bangladesh".

Other issues discussed

At the end of the meeting, ministers said they had experienced some success in clarifying a number of important issues on the road to Cancun, such as special and differential treatment for developing countries and implementation issues. They further agreed to "intensify" negotiations on the so-called ‘Singapore issues’ of investment, transparency in government procurement, trade facilitation and competition policy. However, India said it had strong reservations in this regard, stating that the time was not yet ripe for launching negotiations, and that the clarification process must continue.

Egypt’s commerce minister Youssef Boutros Ghali said the meeting had taken place in a positive spirit, and with regard to the overall Doha round, he still believed that Members were close enough on track to meet the January 2005 deadline.

"WTO chief sounds alarm bell as trade ministers meet", REUTERS, 21 June 2003; "Ministers agree to compile new blueprint for WTO farm talks", KYODO NEWS, 22 June 2003; "US says working for drugs deal as WTO talks wrap up", REUTERS, 22 June 2003; "Ministers fail to break deadlock on farm trade ", FINANCIAL TIMES, 23 June 2003; "Australian Trade Min: EU Must Give Ground On Agriculture", DOW JONES, 24 June 2003; "Drugs firms seek solution to world trade deadlock", REUTERS, 23 June 2003; "US says working for drugs deal as WTO talks wrap up", REUTERS, 22 June 2003.