[asia-apec 1797] Moore Says WTO Mini-Ministerial in Mexico "Edged Forward":, India Maintains opposition

[GATT Watchdog]

Wednesday, September 5, 2001  
ISSN 1529-4153 
Lead Report 
 
Trade Round
Moore Says WTO Mini-Ministerial in Mexico
'Edged Forward'; India Maintains Opposition 


MEXICO CITY--A two-day conference of trade ministers from 18 World 
Trade Organization members "edged forward" in ironing out differences 
over whether to initiate a new round of comprehensive trade talks, 
WTO Director-General Mike Moore said here Sept. 1. 
However, India continued to insist that implementation issues from 
the Uruguay Round agreements need to be addressed "up front" before 
developing nations will agree to a new round of talks. 

Both the U.S. Trade Representative Robert B. Zoellick and European 
Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy said that the Mexico City "mini-
ministerial" had given new momentum to efforts to reach a consensus 
on the agenda for a new comprehensive round of trade talks, expected 
to be launched at the WTO's fourth ministerial meeting in Doha, 
Qatar, to be held Nov. 9-13. 

The informal gathering of trade ministers--largely geared to 
addressing the concerns of developing nations--was held Aug. 31-Sept. 
1 in an effort to narrow differences among members over a new round 
of global trade talks. 

Following the talks, Mexican Economy Minister Luis Ernesto Derbez 
said, "The result of the meeting was very positive. It allowed us to 
get close on ideas that are key--in agriculture, the environment, 
protection of investments, the rules for carrying out trade, and how 
to prepare gradually for talking to regional colleagues. And later 
when the moment arrives for the Qatar meeting so that with everyone 
there, there is a common phraseology, so that at least there is not a 
problem with semantics." 

Despite claims from Lamy and Zoellick that important progress was 
made in reaching a consensus on an agenda for the round, some 
diplomats in Geneva said there appeared to be little concrete 
evidence that members were closer to reaching an agreement. 

The main areas under discussion were implementation of the Uruguay 
Round agreements, as well as trade-related investment measures, 
information on special treatment for developing nations, market 
access for textiles, and technical support for developing nations in 
implementing WTO accords. 

The conference was attended by the United States, Argentina, 
Australia, Brazil, Canada, the European Union, Egypt, Hong Kong, 
India, Jamaica, Japan, Singapore, South Africa, Switzerland, 
Tanzania, and Uruguay, and Qatar, as well as Moore. 

"We edged forward in this meeting," Moore said, adding that "there 
are still of course substantial differences." He noted 
that "ministers are meeting in all sorts of configurations" around 
the world in September in an effort to reach consensus on a post-Doha 
agenda.

Fear of Failure

Moore warned that a global economic slowdown could lead to reluctance 
to increase trade liberalization, and that "we are already seeing 
glimmers" of increased protectionism. Moore has said that the 
WTO "faces a long period of irrelevance" if the organization's 
members cannot agree at Qatar to start a new round of trade talks. 
WTO members failed to reach a consensus for starting a new round of 
trade talks at the WTO's Third ministerial meeting in Seattle in late 
1999. 

Lamy said that "the fate of the multilateral trading system, which we 
all know is shaky" is in play in Qatar. "If we fail in Doha, it is a 
big problem for all of us," he said. "This meeting has proven to be 
an essential staging point on the road to Qatar." 

India Sees 'No Convergence.'

However, India continued to insist that it wants to see 
implementation issues related to the Uruguay Round addressed "up 
front." The Indian ambassador to the WTO, S. Narayanan, has said that 
the WTO cannot fix implementation problems of the previous round of 
talks through a new round of talks. 

Indian Trade Minister Murasoli Maran said following the Mexico City 
conference that India continues to be concerned with implementation 
of the Uruguay Round. "India raised its voice" on implementation 
issues in the meetings, he said. 

"There was some kind of opposition to all of our views. ...I don't 
think there was convergence ... no convergence took place," Maran 
added. 

Maran said that a list of 93 items that India has stressed as being 
of concern has "been on the table for the last three years," and 
insisted that developing nations "deserve all help and assistance" in 
implementing the Uruguay round of talks. 

Maran asked rhetorically, "What are the costs and what are the 
benefits [of increased trade liberalization]?" He highlighted the 
backloading of the implementation of the WTO's Agreement on Textiles 
and Clothing as an example of India's implementation concerns. 

Zoellick said that "15 or 20" of the concerns on India's 93-point 
list have already been addressed. He said that there is a general 
sense that implementation issues will have to be dealt with "before 
Doha, at Doha" and after Doha. 

Developing countries, led by Egypt, India, Malaysia, and Pakistan, 
have insisted that the difficulties they face in implementing and 
complying with existing WTO agreements must be addressed before they 
can agree to new negotiations that go beyond the mandated talks on 
agriculture and services already under way. As part of the exercise, 
these countries have called for a review of agreements clinched 
during the Uruguay Round of negotiations concerning the protection of 
intellectual property (TRIPs), trade-related investment measures 
(TRIMs), agriculture, services, textiles/clothing, customs valuation, 
rules of origin, technical barriers to trade, sanitary/phytosanitary 
measures, and safeguards. 

Lamy said, "India has insisted on implementation. There is goodwill 
on implementation."

Geneva Meeting Set

Last month, India hosted a meeting of the South Asian Association of 
Regional Cooperation (SAARC) nations, where trade ministers resolved 
that any move to add further issues to the agenda of the talks could 
risk overloading the agenda and making it unsustainable. 
Maran said that India would meet with "like-minded" nations in Geneva 
the week of Sept. 3 to discuss the concerns of developing countries. 

The U.S. trade official who briefed reporters on condition of 
anonymity Aug. 30 said that a key objective of the Mexico City 
meeting was for trade ministers to obtain a better understanding of 
the political difficulties each country faces in launching a new 
round, so that they can "go home and reflect" on how to address those 
concerns before Doha. 

"[T]his [meeting in Mexico City] is designed to ensure that ministers 
are involved in the process directly at an early stage," the U.S. 
official said. "One of the lessons from Seattle [where trade 
ministers failed in November-December 1999 to begin new trade talks] 
was that ministerial involvement was too late and had to deal with 
too many issues. And the idea is to have this ministerial involvement 
earlier on and narrow down the issues that ultimately ministers will 
have to deal with in Doha."


By John Nagel
Copyright © 2001 by The Bureau of National Affairs, Inc.,
Washington 
D.C.