PROGRESS ELUSIVE IN S&D NEGOTIATIONS
Progress remains sluggish in WTO negotiations to strengthen provisions for ’special and differential treatment’ (S&DT) for developing countries in multilateral trade rules. Members met during a 7 December meeting of the Committee on Trade and Development Special Session to inform each other about discussions they had held in smaller groups.
In an attempt to reach agreement, the negotiations have focused on a few proposals, such as one from the African Group seeking to more clearly allow developing countries to temporarily deviate from legal WTO constraints in order to implement policies that promote economic development (GATT Article XVIII). Others demand partial or complete exemption based on "financial, trade, or development needs" from obligations under the Agreement on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (Article 10.3), and from administrative requirements in the Agreement on Import Licensing Procedures (Article 3.5). Members have also been discussing the establishment of a mechanism to monitor the implementation and effectiveness of existing S&DT provisions and those resulting from the Doha Round.
In July, Chair Ambassador Shree Baboo Chekitan Servansing (Mauritius), tabled compromise language for the proposals in an attempt to find common ground. However, divisions persist: provisions that supporters of the proposals deem strong enough to be effective go unacceptably far in the eyes of their opponents. According to a source, opponents say the African Group’s proposal on Article XVIII could eventually translate into "a blank cheque." Countries like Mexico, Chile, and Costa Rica, as well as some developed countries, want compliance with commitments to be ensured.
Discussions on the structure and reach of an effective monitoring mechanism looked at how it could evaluate whether S&DT provisions were meeting the Doha mandate to be "more precise, effective, and operational." Some negotiators called for periodical reviews to see whether the mechanism itself needed altering. Members asked the WTO Secretariat to produce a document detailing similar mechanisms under discussion in other areas of the negotiations. Elsewhere, small and vulnerable economies (SVEs) have stressed that the mechanism should monitor development and vulnerability issues that affect them.
Least developed countries continued to push Japan and the US to provide duty- and quota-free access to their exports, as most industrialised countries already do. Japan said it is planning to lift remaining market access barriers, but the US has said that it would depend on the fate of the Doha Round.
Consultations are set to continue on the spectrum of issues in the S&DT talks.
ICTSD reporting.
SVEs REITERATE THEIR VULNERABILITY AT CTD DEDICATED SESSION
A group of ’small and vulnerable economies’ last week stressed the importance of maintaining the WTO Committee on Trade and Development’s ‘Dedicated Session’ as a monitoring forum, rather than one in which their various proposals for special treatment would be negotiated.
These countries, many of which are small island states, account for minute proportions of global trade. In the talks on agriculture and industrial goods, the SVEs have been seeking liberalisation obligations gentler than those required of other developing countries
The Doha mandate calls on WTO Members to examine the problems faced by small and vulnerable economies, and to come up with recommendations to improve their integration into the multilateral trading system.
At the brief meeting on 3 December, Members of the group expressed concerns about a potential "reopening" of negotiations on their proposals in the CTD, as opposed to the relevant Doha Round negotiating committees.
Barbados, speaking for the SVE group, stressed three lines of future work for the CTD-Dedicated Session: raising awareness of the particular vulnerable situations and constraints on production faced by SVEs; evaluating whether accession procedures for SVEs seekinmg to join the WTO are unduly burdensome; and looking at WTO obligations from which SVEs could be temporarily exempt in the event of natural disasters or comparable situations.
With regard to a monitoring mechanism for special and differential treatment for developing countries, the SVE group highlighted the importance of continued monitoring of development and vulnerability issues that affect them.
ICTSD reporting.