Commonwealth Secretary-General calls for a spirit of fairness in trade talks
10 November 2001
Commonwealth Secretary-General Don McKinnon has called for greater attention to the needs and concerns of developing countries in trade negotiations, as ministers gather in Doha for the World Trade Organisation (WTO) meeting this weekend."There must be a determination to conduct trade negotiations with a spirit of fairness and integrity," said Mr McKinnon. "Increased trade liberalisation will only work if it works for the benefit of all countries. We need to recognise that true globalisation means fair globalisation."
The experience of developing countries since the conclusion of the Uruguay Round has made them sceptical about the process of global trade liberalisation. In particular, there are five issues of great concern among Commonwealth developing countries:
· Industrialised countries have failed to live up to the spirit of previous agreements, notably on textiles and clothing. These countries need to recognise that the 'development dimension' will have to be addressed in any new round of negotiations.
· Agricultural protection, particularly in major OECD markets, impacts negatively on the economies of many developing countries. Industrialised countries continue to maintain high levels of domestic and export subsidies on products that could offer great opportunities for developing countries. These issues must be addressed, as many developing countries would benefit from a liberalised agricultural economy.
· In many economic sectors of major importance to developing countries, tariffs continue to affect their ability to trade. This is why recent initiatives by some industrialised countries to grant duty free access to all products from least developed countries must be commended.
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· The HIV/AIDS pandemic demands appropriate responses from all of us. Anxieties of developing countries regarding application of the TRIPS (trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights) agreement are well founded. Greater clarity is required to allow some flexibility in the application of the TRIPS agreement in order to address public health crises.
· New issues, including investment, competition policy, environment and labour standards, raise fundamental questions about the breadth of the mandate of the WTO. Developing countries are concerned that including these issues on the agenda might divert attention from issues of major importance to them. One thing that could be done to help developing countries, is to fund research to determine the real interests of developing countries in any negotiations on new issues.
The Commonwealth Secretariat is working to build the capacity of developing countries. A Commonwealth trade adviser operates from Geneva to provide on-the-spot advice to trade diplomats from Commonwealth countries. We have established an on-line trade briefing service for senior trade policy officials in Commonwealth countries. We are currently developing a major capacity-building project to place experts in different regions of the Commonwealth, to work alongside trade policy officials in national governments and regional secretariats. The Commonwealth is seeking through these initiatives to promote a more consistent approach to trade policy-making and a spirit of generosity in trade negotiations.
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- Commonwealth ICT SummitBetty Mould Iddrisu, Director, Legal and Constitutional Affairs
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