WTO MEMBERS CONTINUE TO REFINE, CLARIFY PROPOSALS ON TRADE FACILITATION
The Doha Round talks on trade facilitation are slowly moving towards the development of a future WTO agreement on reducing red tape and other obstacles to the transit and customs clearance of goods. A 30 April - 1 May informal meeting of the trade facilitation negotiating group saw increasingly detailed work. Chair Ambassador Eduardo Sperisen-Yurt (Guatemala) called on Members to pick up the pace so they can quickly proceed to discussing draft text for a future agreement.
Many delegates called for the preparation of ‘fourth-generation’ texts - proposals refined yet again to incorporate comments made in recent sessions of the negotiating group (see BRIDGES Weekly, 21 March 2007).
Sources report that the US commented that Members seemed to be in legal drafting mode. A developing country trade delegate cautioned that while it would not be unfair to regard refining earlier texts as ‘legal drafting’, the current negotiations were focused more on process and strategy rather than on substance.
Technical assistance was an important subject of discussion. Most developing countries want an upfront commitment that they will be provided the technical assistance and capacity building they need to implement new commitments, said one delegate. The official added that developing countries also want a clearer understanding of the type and extent of actual assistance that would be forthcoming, and how this would be distributed among various Members. In contrast, most if not all developed countries want implementation-related aid to be determined bilaterally between the donors and recipients.
In any case, said one source, developing countries have placed a high priority on meaningful technical assistance language as an integral part of any text. The trade facilitation mandate is unique in that Members will not be required to implement commitments unless they receive the technical assistance necessary to do so.
Transitional periods for implementation also need to be resolved: the trick will be to create implementation timetables that vary according to the realities of each Member without creating a multi-tier regime.
The next formal meeting of the negotiating group is expected to take place in early June. Sperisen-Yurt will continue to consult with delegations in the interim.
ICTSD reporting.