Cancun - 5^ème Conférence ministérielle de l'OMC - 10-14 septembre 2003

Document soutenu par l'URFIG

THE DOHA AGENDA:  TOWARDS CANCÚN

(4 June 2003)

Communication from Argentina, Bolivia, Botswana, Brazil, Chile, China, Colombia, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Gabon, Guatemala, Honduras, India, Malaysia, Mexico, Morocco, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Paraguay, Peru, Thailand, Uruguay, Venezuela and Zimbabwe

The following communication, dated 4 June, has been received from the above group of countries with the request that it be circulated to participants.

I. Introduction

1. The Doha Declaration stakes out a comprehensive work program aimed at further strengthening the multilateral trading system. At this stage of the process, it is important to recall some of the elements that enabled success at Doha and are still essential to bring our negotiation to a fruitful conclusion:

The centrality of the development dimension to the Doha package: Development concerns cut through all areas of the multilateral trading system, and they are at the heart of the work program. We need to make sure that the commitments we all made at Doha do indeed help in better integrating developing countries into the multilateral trading system and into the benefits accruing from it.

The delicate overall balance of the package: In Doha, we agreed on a single undertaking that has the potential to provide gains for all Members. Balance has to be sought across the entire undertaking, without trying to isolate specific sectors.

To agree on the scope of the single undertaking, all Members made commitments; we all need to abide by them, without attempts to dilute or reinterpret any one, if we want a final package that is generally acceptable and brings benefits to all our peoples.

The importance of a transparent process: In order to bring the Doha Development Agenda to a successful conclusion that further strengthens the multilateral trading system, it is essential that all Members participate in the decision making process.

2.    The following summarizes the key actions that, in our judgment, have to be taken at this stage in order to keep and enhance the momentum of our work, with a view to the 5th Ministerial Conference in Cancún.

II. Development issues

3.It is essential to resolve implementation-related issues and concerns and the strengthening of special and differential treatment before Cancún, instead of calling into question the basic principles underlying them. Concrete results on the development issues will bolster confidence in the process and thus have a positive impact on work in other areas of the negotiation.

4. We underscore the critical importance of trade-related technical assistance and capacity building in addressing the constraints of developing countries, in particular least developed countries.

III. Agriculture

5.Given its importance for developing countries and the need for significant results, agriculture cannot be a self-contained package. This was acknowledged in the single undertaking agreed in Doha, and was indeed one of the main reasons for the launch of a broad negotiating round.

6. Reform of agricultural trade is of central importance for many developing countries.

There is a strong commonality on the need to substantially reduce or eliminate export subsidies and domestic support, including tighter criteria for the green box.

It is equally important to discuss how to deal with market access questions in a way that guards the legitimate concerns of developing countries.

7.We expect the establishment of modalities by Cancún, which should include the interests of all developing countries. This has to be an essential ingredient of the negotiation and its outcome.

IV. Non-agricultural market access

8.We expect the establishment of modalities by Cancún, which should include the interests of all developing countries.

9.Less than full reciprocity should be a central element of the approach to be agreed.

10.Additional emphasis has to be put on eliminating non-tariff barriers.

V. Services

11.Progress to date has been moderate. There is need to increase the number of requests and offers and, as a matter of priority, to resolve the horizontal issues.

12.The pace of work in this field could be boosted by positive results in other areas of the negotiation.

VI. Rules

13.The rules negotiation is a crucial element of the Doha package. Work should proceed in tandem with that of other areas of the negotiation. Results in this matter will have a positive impact on the effectiveness of the market access improvements agreed in the respective negotiating bodies.

VII. Singapore issues

14. In spite of intensive discussions, a large number of differences still exists on many of the subjects identified for clarification in the Doha Declaration. In several areas, there is need for further analysis.

15. Progress varies significantly across the four Singapore issues. Each issue should be treated separately.

16. Any modalities to be decided, by explicit consensus, in Cancún would need to provide certainty on the structure and precise content of negotiations.

VIII. Dispute settlement understanding

17. The end result of the exercise needs to strengthen the WTO dispute settlement mechanism's role of guaranteeing the balance between Members' rights and obligations, with particular emphasis on the needs of developing countries.

IX. TRIPS and public health

18. For many developing countries, one of the most important achievements of the 4th Ministerial Conference in Doha was the Declaration on the TRIPS agreement and public health. This Declaration, which is separate from the work program agreed at Doha, has huge humanitarian implications and a significant impact on how the WTO is perceived by public opinion.

19. The implementation of the last outstanding part of the Declaration on the TRIPS agreement and public health, paragraph 6, needs to be solved before Cancún. We urge all Members to reach a consensus on this issue, an important measure to build trust among Members.

Celine Charveriat

Head of Advocacy Office in Geneva

OXFAM International

15 rue des Savoises

1205 Geneva

tel: 0041-22-321-23-71

cell: 0041-79-668-6477

fax: 0041-22-321-27-53

DEVELOPING COUNTRIES LAY OUT DEMANDS FOR WTO ACTION BEFORE CANCUN

A group of 26 developing countries from disparate regions of the world this week laid out their vision of what must be accomplished before the September ministerial of the World Trade Organization, focusing on the fact that many priorities of developing countries have not been addressed in the work program and the negotiations so far. In a June 6 paper, they emphasized that meeting developing countries' demands for better implementation of existing trade agreements and differential treatment will have a positive impact on other areas of the negotiations.

The paper, presented at this week's Trade Negotiations Committee meeting, does not specify how many implementation demands must be met in order to achieve that effect or how much special and differential treatment should be accorded to developing countries. But it does emphasize that it is "essential" for developing country interests to be considered in the agriculture negotiations, and that industrial market access negotiations must include the principle of developing countries making fewer concessions as a "central element." This is expressed in the Doha Declaration that includes the notion that developing countries would have to offer less than full reciprocity in market access negotiations.

But the U.S. this week took issue with the notion that this term would allow a blanket exemption for developing countries from market access concessions. Instead, the language, if read in context, clearly calls for an approach that reflects the differing trade, finance and development needs of individual members, the U.S. said at the June 10-11 TNC. But U.S. Ambassador to the WTO Linnet Deily also criticized a proposed draft for conducting industrial market access negotiations as leading to inadequate results. For example, in some cases, the proposed formula would not even reduce bound tariffs to the rates currently applied in developing countries, a point that was also echoed by the European Union. Deily emphasized that both in the industrial sector and in agriculture, market access remains the absolute goal of the Doha negotiations for the U.S. One Geneva diplomat involved in writing the paper emphasized that it is deliberately vague in order to ensure that the broadest range of countries would sign on. The signatories are Argentina, Bolivia, Botswana, Brazil, Chile, China, Colombia, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Gabon, Guatemala, Honduras, India, Malaysia, Mexico, Morocco, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Paraguay, Peru, Thailand, Uruguay, Venezuela, and Zimbabwe. In addition, the paper highlights the need to have an agreement before Cancun on the outstanding declaration on the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights that is to provide access to cheaper generic copies of patented drugs to developing countries. The paper makes it clear that this TRIPS and health issue is not formally part of the negotiations, but has a "significant impact" on how the WTO is perceived by public opinion. The U.S. in its comments only said that it is continuing to pursue a solution to the issue, as did the EU representative (see related story). Despite the generality of the paper, it does break new ground on the Singapore issues of investment, competition, transparency in government procurement and trade facilitation because it acknowledges that they are part of the negotiations. It notes that large differences exist on these issues and that progress on clarifying relevant issues differs "significantly" over the four issues, and that each of them should be treated separately at Cancun. Overall, the modalities for negotiating these issues should be "precise" on the structure and the content of the negotiations. The notion that the Singapore issues should advance separately was also endorsed by the United States at the Trade Negotiations Committee meeting. In her statement to the TNC, Deily said the U.S. supports current efforts by the chairman of the General Council to begin consultations on Singapore modalities with the informal assistance of a select group of working group chairs considered as Friends of the Chair (see related story). The paper, presented by Colombia at this week's meeting of the TNC, emphasizes that all members of the WTO must be able to participate in the decision process in order to make the Doha negotiations a success. This demand for a transparent process is based on the fear that the outline of a Doha deal at Cancun will be set by the major players such as the U.S. and European Union, with the possible input from other members that they select as participants in the process, according to a Geneva diplomat. At the TNC, four African cotton producers called on other WTO members to completely phase out their domestic and export subsidies for cotton, which is of critical importance to Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad and Mali, some of the world's poorest countries. As a means to reduce their poverty, these countries presented a proposal to establish in Cancun a mechanism for phasing out support for cotton with a view towards elimination. This decision should set a specific date for the complete phase-out of cotton subsidies. As a transitional measure, countries that subsidize cotton production and exports should agree to offer financial compensation to these African producers to offset the income they are losing. These demands would affect the U.S., the European Union and China. The proposal was presented at the TNC by the President of Burkina Faso.

Overall, WTO Director General Panitchpakdi Supachai reminded members that they have to consider their instructions for ministers to Cancun in mid-July. He warned that members have to reach agreement on as many issues as possible so that ministers do not face too many unresolved problems. If agreement is not possible, WTO members have to limit the differences so that ministers can make focused decisions, he said. As part of the effort to narrow differences, Supachai announced that the chairman of the Dispute Settlement Understanding negotiations will conduct consultations on how to proceed after members missed a May deadline. Members are divided on when to set a new deadline, and on the scope of future negotiations. The U.S., EU and Japan favor a new target date for the first half of next year, possibly in May 2004. In contrast, other members such as Korea, Malaysia, and Argentina seek a new agreement by the end of this year. In addition, members remain divided over whether additional negotiations require a new mandate (Inside U.S. Trade, May 30, p. 1 & May 23, p. 6). Supachai said he hoped the DSU issue could be decided by next month's General Council meeting and said he was continuing his consultations on the controversial issue of extending more protection to products other than wine and spirits that have geographic names. This is a followup to EU demands that this issue be part of the negotiations, which the U.S. had opposed until this spring, when U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick announced he was willing to seriously discuss the issue (Inside U.S. Trade, May 9, p. 1).