Lamy emphasizes Development as basis for Doha Round

At a World Trade Organisation general council meeting on Tuesday, over 100 developing country representatives closed ranks to demand that the "developmental" goals as spelt out in the Doha mandate must be incorporated in the revised draft of non-agricultural market access parameters for cutting industrial tariffs. 
 
Under the leadership of South Africa, the developing countries unveiled a statement saying "the Doha Round is about development of developing countries, especially Least Developed Countries amongst them." The statement spelt out in detail what the chair for non-agricultural market access (NAMA) negotiations ambassador Don Stephenson of Canada must do in his revised draft to capture the developmental dimension of the Doha round. 
 
Immediately, the United States attacked the developing countries for raising such a statement, saying it will undermine the negotiations. "We are very concerned about this proposal that came out today," said Sean Spicer, spokesperson for the office of the U.S. Trade Representative. "In fact, this proposal could signal the end of the Doha round," he said, suggesting that developing countries will have to take the blame for the failure of the negotiations. 
 
Developing country trade envoys said it is baseless to shift the blame on them. They say they are merely asking for an agreement on the basis of the mandate spelt out in Doha Development Agenda, the July 2004 Framework Agreement, and the Hong Kong Ministerial Declaration of 2005. 
 
"The majority of the members of WTO are committed to concluding the Doha round based on the development mandate," South Africa's trade envoy to the World Trade Organisation Faisal Ismail told IPS. 
 
"Since the July draft text was put on the table (by the chair for non-agricultural market access negotiations ambassador Don Stephenson), over 100 developing countries offered a substantial critique on what was missing in the draft, but the United States and the European Union continued to ignore our concerns and insisted the onerous burden imposed in the chair's text should be accepted, and the developing countries should negotiate on the basis of the text," he said. 
 
"The process that is being imposed by the U.S. and the EU is fundamentally unfair because developing countries are being asked to pay through hefty concessions even before the developed countries address that they are ready to offer to cut down farm subsidies," he argued. "This is simply unacceptable, and we will not be cowed down by the blame-shifting." 
 
At issue are the tariff-cutting ranges as well as flexibilities proposed by Stephenson. Developing countries argue that the chair's proposals are diametrically opposed to the principle of less than full reciprocity in which industrialised countries are required to undertake higher percentage cuts in import tariffs on their industrial products than the developing countries. 
 
The chair's proposals would require rich countries to cut their industrial tariffs by about 40 percent while developing countries would have to reduce by over 55 percent. Besides, the chair has tightened the flexibilities accorded to developing countries. 
 
In sharp contrast, the industrialised countries led by the U.S. have favoured the chair's proposals. "It is time for delegations to affirm that they will negotiate on basis of chairs' texts in both agriculture and NAMA, including the market access ranges and flexibilities contained in those drafts," U.S. trade envoy Peter Allgeier said in a statement. 
 
The U.S. maintains that it cannot secure an extension to its expired trade promotion authority unless it could satisfy its Congress with some ambitious market-opening incentives in developing countries. Consequently, it wants the developing world to agree to steep market access commitments in agriculture, industrial goods and services. 
 
"We are not prepared to sign on a blank cheque merely to satisfy the U.S. Congress," said one developing country trade envoy, who preferred anonymity. He argued that the U.S. has adopted an aggressive stance of squeezing every country without paying in return. 
 
Several developing countries also pointed to the grave imbalance between the Doha agriculture and NAMA negotiations. Rich industrialised countries like the U.S., the EU countries and Japan want to pry open developing country industrial markets, said the South African envoy. But, he said, "agriculture determines the ambition of the round," arguing that "NAMA modalities have to be built around and lead to a result comparable to what is achievable in agriculture." 
 
"The basic purpose of our document is to make a constructive contribution to the negotiations by restoring the balance to the NAMA negotiations," Indian trade envoy Ujal Singh Bhatia told IPS. "The statement merely contains what is enshrined in the Doha mandate." 
 
Several developing countries like India, Brazil, Venezuela and Barbados drew a sharp distinction between the existing draft parameters on agriculture and NAMA, saying that they can work on the basis of the chair's draft on agriculture but not NAMA modalities.

Lamy’s Speech in the Trade Negotiations Committee

“Thank you Mr. Chairman. 
 
I am pleased to report that since my last report to the General Council in July, our negotiations have started again to move ahead in earnest. Delegations came back from the summer break with a businesslike attitude. They have done their homework, and have heeded the call to be fit and ready to engage in intensive negotiations from the beginning of September.

Starting with the work on Agriculture, participants are demonstrating the kind of engagement and readiness to look for compromises that the Chair and I have been urging for some time. 
 
I think it should be clear to all of us that completing the Round is not only technically possible, but also a political must. Over the last few weeks, we have continued to hear this message from the highest levels, reflecting a strong commitment to a successful and ambitious outcome to the Round. In particular, APEC Leaders at their meeting in Sydney underlined the urgent need to make progress and pledged the political will, flexibility and ambition to ensure the negotiations enter their final phase this year, calling on all Members to join them in this respect. We have also heard similar calls from other leaders, including at last weeks' Public Forum here at the WTO.
 
Let me reiterate that the only possible path to an ambitious, balanced and development-oriented outcome to the Round is not only to establish full modalities in Agriculture and NAMA, which are needed to start scheduling, but also to make commensurate progress in other areas of the negotiations in line with the full Doha mandates, the July 2004 Decision and the Hong Kong Ministerial Declaration.
 
The work in Agriculture and NAMA in the coming days is aimed at developing enough common ground to allow the Chairs to prepare revisions of the texts they issued in July. They have both made clear their plans in this regard in their respective negotiating groups. And I am pleased to be able to report that we now have more clarity also in the areas of Services and Rules.
 
As he has informed delegations, the Chair of the Services negotiations will be conducting consultations on the content of a text in this area. Clearly, existing agreed texts — in particular Annex C of the Hong Kong Ministerial Declaration — must govern the content of any such document as well as future work in this area.
 
In Rules, as he announced at the July meeting of the TNC, the Chair expects to circulate texts on Anti-dumping and Subsidies & Countervailing Measures, including fisheries subsidies, at around the same time that the revised papers on Agriculture and NAMA are circulated.
 
In the other areas of the negotiations, the Chairs are sparing no effort to move the work ahead, and they will also be developing texts as they judge the issues are ripe. 
 
I would like to express my appreciation for the hard work that the Negotiating Group Chairs are putting in. Their leadership and judgement in each area of the negotiations are invaluable.
 
We have regained a good level of momentum in our work, and the challenge now is to accelerate it in the days and weeks ahead, so that the necessary compromises can be found. However, now more than ever, time is running against us. As I have stated before, progress is now being made but we must increase the pace at which we move ahead in agriculture and NAMA , so that we can then bring all the elements of the Round together, as we have to do under the Single Undertaking. And let me recall that we must keep firmly in mind the need to reflect the Development Dimension of this Round, including Special and Differential Treatment, in all our work.
 
At this stage, I do not believe that it would useful to try to fix deadlines or negotiate a detailed roadmap. We cannot afford to let ourselves be distracted from the main tasks at hand. We all know what we have to do to conclude the Round, and I believe we must maintain our focus fully on substance. There is an active process going on in the Negotiating Groups, and this deserves all our attention. This process is now text-driven, and texts are substance-driven. Getting into a process debate now would, I believe, risk impeding that progress.
 
Let me assure you that, as TNC Chairman, I am giving my full attention to the need for a coherent approach to this final phase of the negotiations. I have intensified my meetings with you, Mr Chairman, and the Negotiating Group Chairs, and I will work closely with the other Chairs to ensure that their individual processes are mutually supportive.
I also stand ready to undertake any meetings of a cross-cutting nature which might help us move towards agreement across the board. In this respect, direct ministerial involvement might also be necessary at some point. However, I believe it is premature to speculate on when that might be. I will also continue my contacts with Members, both here in Geneva and at meetings elsewhere.
 
Since the summer, all of you have put much effort into the negotiating process. We should enable it to achieve its full potential so we can conclude the Round successfully and ambitiously. I remain convinced that this deal is as doable as it is essential.
 
Finally, a word about Aid for Trade. In the last month, I have attended the three Aid for Trade Regional Reviews in Lima, Manila and Dar Es Salaam, organized in cooperation with the relevant Development Banks. I believe these meetings have helped us raise awareness over these issues in domestic constituencies as well as within the donor community. The next step now is build on the progress made there at the annual Global Review session here in the General Council on 20-21 November so that we can move to specifics. I would also like to mention the recent pledging conference on the Enhanced Integrated Framework for the Least Developed Countries, which was successful. This is also an area were progress is being made: the Executive Secretariat of the EIF is being set up and work is already on-going to strengthen the capacity of LDCs and put them in a position to mainstream trade into their development strategies. 
 
That concludes my report on this occasion. Thank you, Mr. Chairman”

Pascal Lamy

Released on: 11 October 2007
Resource: www.ipsnews.net, www.wto.org