Bridges Weekly Trade News Digest • Volume 5 • Number 17 • 8th May 2001

WTO Members Hammer Out Doha Prep for July

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On Thursday 3 May, the WTO General Council convened to consider Chairman Stuart Harbinson’s informal consultations on preparations for the WTO’s Fourth Ministerial Conference, scheduled for 9-13 November in Doha, Qatar.

At the meeting, the Chairman submitted a checklist of possible issues for discussions during the preparatory meetings, including Members’ views on current issues (1); implementation (2); ongoing negotiations/reviews (3); other elements of the work programme (4); organisation and management of the work programme (5); and technical cooperation and capacity-building (6).

Most countries agreed that by July it should be clear whether it would be feasible to launch a round of comprehensive trade negotiations in Doha or whether the Ministerial would only attempt to make assessments of current talks. By taking this route, countries hope to avoid the process that led to the failure of talks at the Third Ministerial Conference in Seattle in 1999.

Some have identified the first option (a conference which may launch a new round) as Plan A, while the second (a conference for assessing topics already under discussion) has been termed Plan B.

A developing country delegate stated at the meeting that some Members’ Plan A might be the Plan B of others. One trade official expressed surprise with the Plan A/Plan B approach, saying that realistically it looked as though there was only one plan, which was to try and get an agenda sorted out for July.

Chairman Harbinson, according to sources, is now faced with the challenge of determining the best order for the various issues Members are calling on for inclusion on the July agenda. While his checklist was reportedly well received by Members, differences emerged regarding the hierarchies of the items to be discussed.

Some countries, including Japan and Korea, stressed the redundancy of the second and third points (Implementation; Ongoing Negotiations/Reviews, respectively) which, in their view, should not overwhelm the already crowded agenda. Others countries, including Pakistan, India and the African Group, pointed out that addressing full implementation and re-balancing of the WTO Agreements is an urgent priority whose discussion may affect whether progress will be made elsewhere.

Tanzania, speaking on the behalf of the Least Developed Countries (LDCs), argued that a specific bullet on the checklist should be devoted to LDC Members. It also argued that talks on implementation should be a priority in the Doha process and that discussions should not start on the premise of a new round. Unlike during the 3rd ministerial conference, LDC delegations should not be kept out of decision-making sessions when important consultations will take place.

Pakistan, India and others expressed some frustration with the agenda forwarded by Harbinson, who fixed the next two meetings (on 10 and 15 May), respectively on the first and fourth topics of the checklist. They perceived these points as an attempt to push forward the Singapore topics (investment, competition policy, government procurement and trade facilitation) which would fall under the 4th point, despite the resistance of many developing countries and their desire to discuss implementation concerns first. Furthermore, some developing countries cast doubts on whether these issues should be on the eventual-new-round agenda at all.

“Doha Process Starts, stumbles over Plan A, B (or C),” SOUTH-NORTH DEVELOPMENT MONITOR (SUNS), 4 May 2001; “WTO Ambassadors Start Work On Program For Doha Meeting,” WORLD TRADE NEWS, 4 May 2001; “Conference Agreeing Topics For New WTO Round Tricky,” WORLD TRADE NEWS, 7 May 2001; ICTSD Internal Files.