Bridges Weekly Trade News Digest • Volume 8 • Number 43 • 15th December 2004

General Council Reviews Year’s Progress

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In a 13 December meeting of the WTO General Council (GC), Members approved accession requests by Afghanistan and Iraq, and will now set up Working Parties on their accession. This came after the United States blocked consensus on a similar request from Iran, saying that it was still studying Iran’s request to start accession talks — the same reason it has given for doing so repeatedly over the past three years.

Washington has a broad regime of economic sanctions in place against Iran, which it accuses of supporting terrorism and trying to develop nuclear weapons. The Chinese delegation made a strong point of saying that the Iranian accession request should have been considered, arguing that the American move was motivated by political concerns unrelated to trade.

Iraqi Trade Minister Mohammed al-Jibouri told the GC that re-integration into the international trading system was essential to Iraq’s pursuit of "political stability, economic prosperity and social development." Sources indicate, however, that some countries were wondering aloud if countries such as Iraq and Afghanistan would benefit from negotiating disciplines in the WTO, given the precarious security situation in the two countries.

Business proceeded largely as expected at the meeting. China submitted its transitional review to the GC (see "China Marks Three Years In WTO," this issue), and annual reports from a number of WTO bodies (including the Dispute Settlement Body, the Committee on Trade and Development, and the GC itself) were adopted.

Benin and Burkina Faso thanked Director-General Supachai Panitchpakdi for his report (WT/GC/83, available online at http://docsonline.wto.org) on the development assistance aspects of the cotton-related elements of the July Package (see BRIDGES Weekly, 8 December 2004). Uganda took the opportunity to remind Members that though it was in Eastern Africa, it too produced cotton.

In his capacity as Chair of the Trade Negotiations Committee (TNC), Supachai reported to the General Council on its work (see "WTO Negotiations Committee Looks Ahead To 2005," this issue). All of the negotiating bodies established by the Doha mandate report to the TNC. Switzerland welcomed the work that had been done on geographical indications. Nigeria expressed hope for a more transparent, inclusive negotiating process in 2005, as well as for a greater emphasis on development issues. Speaking on behalf of the least-developed countries (LDCs), Zambia appealed for the help of developed and the larger developing countries. Linking its remarks to the WTO debates on trade facilitation, the Zambian delegation said that market access alone would not be sufficient to address LDCs’ problems; supply-side constraints must be addressed as well.

Honduras and Guatemala told the GC that they should be compensated for the May 2004 enlargement of the European Union, on the grounds that the General Agreement for Tariffs and Trade (GATT) 1994 provides for Members to be compensated when they suffer losses as a result of the establishment of a new customs union. Banana exports to the EU are important to both countries. In response to the countries’ request that the GC Chair start consultations on the issue, the EC argued that consultations were unnecessary as the issue was a bilateral one. The Chair agreed to "reflect" on the matter.

Members will soon start consultations on the replacement of the Chairs of some 37 different WTO bodies. The WTO Secretariat put forward a list of the countries that have chaired the various bodies over the past four years to help Members ensure that the posts are fairly distributed.

Director-General Supachai also wrote a letter to all Members about the WTO’s 10th anniversary in January 2005. He told them that the Sutherland Report — a one-time report by a consultative board that includes former GATT/WTO Director-General Peter Sutherland and Columbia University economist Jagdish Bhagwati — would be circulated in mid-January. The report is expected to cover issues including decision-making within WTO, internal and external transparency, and the position of developing countries in the multilateral trading system. Sources indicate that the report will made be public after its release.

The next GC session is scheduled for 15-16 February 2005, but it will meet on 26 January to discuss the appointment of the next Director-General of the WTO. The candidates for the position will make their presentations at this meeting.

ICTSD reporting; "WTO agrees entry talks with Iraq, U.S. blocks Iran," REUTERS 13 December 2004.