The 2001 Doha Development Round of WTO trade negotiations saw ups and downs in the deliberations up to July 2006 when progress stalled. Talks have resumed since then informally and on a low-key basis but the prospects for a breakthrough still appear dim.
The Doha Development Round The Declaration of the Fourth Ministerial Conference in Doha provided the negotiation mandate for the Round. Developing countries, among them African countries, considered development dimensions to be crucial in fulfilling the Doha mandate which was to reform the multilateral trading system and improve their prospects in global trade. The pro-development agenda was expected to address the skewed nature of the division of global trade benefits, with most gains going to the developed countries. The Doha mandate was supposed to put development at the centre of the discussions with achievement of this mandate to the satisfaction of developing countries the yardstick with which success would be measured.
A fundamental expectation with the Round, therefore, was that it would correct the remaining imbalances in trade rules in favour of developing countries and improve rules to provide developing countries with genuine market opportunities. Negotiations on services and agriculture were programmed by the “in-built agenda” clauses of the Marrakesh Agreement. Importantly for African countries and the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries, the Doha meeting also secured a waiver for the transitional arrangements of the Cotonou provisions for EU-ACP countries.
The waiver permitted the legal application of the Cotonou preferential trade regime, until its expiry on 31 December 2007. The Doha mandate evolved and was finetuned with the subsequent Ministerial Conferences in Geneva, Cancún, and Hong Kong, in 1998, 2003 and 2005, respectively.
The Cancún Ministerial Conference of 2003 In Cancún, in September 2003, the Fifth WTO Ministerial Conference that was intended for stock taking of positions again ended in a deadlock. The main contentions crystallized around the unresolved “Singapore issues”: investment, competition, government procurement and trade facilitation. There was also deep disagreement over the treatment of cotton and other agricultural commodity and subsidy issues.
The July Framework Agreement of the WTO General Council It took member States until July 2004 to achieve any substantial progress on the issues that had stalled the negotiations in Cancún in 2003. After several weeks of intense deliberations, the member States agreed on a text that represented significant progress in clarifying the modalities.
The July Framework Agreement showed progress on agriculture, the Singapore issues and, to some extent, on Non-Agriculture Market Access (NAMA). The text of the July Framework Agreement dropped the Singapore issues with the exception of trade facilitation. With regard to agriculture, advances were achieved on the three pillars identified, with special and differentiated treatment (S&D) featuring in all aspects.
Domestic support measures were to be reduced using a tiered formula, implying steeper reductions for the highest level of subsidies. On export competition, the Framework Agreement stipulated reduction of export subsidies, with a view to phasing them out, even though no date was proposed for their concrete elimination.
The choice of a tiered formula was also retained for market access. Least Developed Countries (LDCs) were exempted from all tariff cuts. It was further decided that treatment of cotton, one of the causes of contention in Cancún, would be treated under the agriculture negotiations; a sub-committee was created to address this issue “ambitiously, expeditiously and specifically”.
The text of the July package was less clear concerning the choice of a particular formula for NAMA reductions. Negotiations had been delayed by the late progress achieved on agriculture, with many members refusing to invest too much effort in NAMA while the outcome of the negotiations in agriculture was still unknown. The July Framework also defined new deadlines for further advancing the negotiations.
However, most of the interim deadlines were missed and not much happened in 2005. The little progress achieved up to the Sixth WTO Ministerial Conference in Hong Kong in December 2005 included a system to assess the ad-valorem equivalent of non-ad-valorem tariffs. Other important issues remained unresolved.
Sixth WTO Ministerial Conference in Hong Kong This Sixth WTO Ministerial Conference resulted in the Hong Kong Declaration in December 2005 that outlined further progress in the negotiations, although it failed to bridge significant gaps. The main developments brought about by the Declaration included an end date of 2013 for agricultural export subsidies, and end of 2006 for cotton subsidies. Precision was also added to the modalities on agriculture, notably the number of bands for the tiered formulae. Progress was also made on the definitions of sensitive products, special products and special safeguard mechanisms. The Declaration chose a Swiss formula for tariff reduction under NAMA.
With regard to agriculture and NAMA, the Hong Kong Declaration set out a deadline for establishing modalities, particularly on the depth of tariff cuts and domestic subsidies reduction by 30 April 2006, with a view to establishing detailed schedules of commitments by 31 July 2006. On services, the Declaration called for improved offers and included a timeline to do so.
Another major highlight of the Declaration of particular importance for many African countries was the decision to grant duty-free and quota-free (DFQF) market access to LDCs. This extended to 97 per cent of products but notably excluded some textile and garment products. Such market access was to be granted to LDCs by developed countries and also by developing countries in a position to do so.
The Sixth Ministerial Conference in Hong Kong also resulted in an agreement for transparency on rules for regional integration. Finally, the Hong Kong Declaration also called for the creation of a task force on Aid for Trade. Discussions on Aid for Trade had developed during the course of 2005 in parallel with the WTO process.
The pause in the negotiations: July-November 2006 The Hong Kong Declaration had set several deadlines for reaching agreement on modalities. These deadlines were all missed during the first trimester of 2006 and, by the end of June 2006, a meeting of Ministers and Heads of Delegations was called in Geneva. Despite intense discussions on agriculture and NAMA, no agreement on modalities was reached. The issue was discussed at several levels including during the G-8 meeting in July 2006. Finally, after another unfruitful attempt to break the deadlock during a G-6 meeting, Pascal Lamy, the Director-General of WTO, on 27 July 2006, called for the talks to be suspended as, in his view, there was need for reflection and “quiet diplomacy.”
The deadlock in WTO negotiations appeared to be primarily associated with disagreement over the levels of demand and offers on agriculture. In particular, it seemed that EU and USA would not agree on the levels of necessary concessions with regard to market access against reductions in domestic support.
The suspension of the talks was clearly a setback for the multilateral process, prohibiting the international community and especially poorer countries from gaining significant improvements in the multilateral trading system. This freeze in negotiations was all the more worrying in light of the expiration of the Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) or “fast-track” at the end of 2007. This constitutes a de-facto deadline for the current Round.10
From July to November 2006, there were no official negotiations. On 16 November 2006, however, the WTO Director-General called for an informal trade committee meeting to re-launch the consultation process, as there appeared to be a consensus that WTO members were keen to revive the negotiations. The section below explores the achievements so far in the Doha Round from an African perspective.
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Dianne Crampton
Dianne Crampton is an Executive Leadership Coach and Team Building Consultant and creator of the TIGERS team development model. For the past twenty years she has helped leaders and teams achieve goals with high levels of collaboration and teamwork.
Crampton is a published author. Her contribution to Working Together: Diversity As Opportunity was endorsed by Stephen Covey. She has written for trade magazines. Merrill Lynch nominated her business for Inc. Magazine’s regional small business and entrepreneurial awards. Her work with Native Americans was recognized at a United Nations sponsored conference in 1994.
The TIGERS model passed two rigorous validation studies in 1992 and 1994. The TIGERS Survey is able to measure and track team development over time.
Dianne is also the creator and distributor of the TIGERS Team Wheel game. This game helps groups identify behaviors that build collaborative groups and behaviors that cause conflict, morale problems, production failures, and misunderstandings.
For more information, or to subscribe to TigerTracks, a free monthly leadership and team newsletter go to http://www.corevalues.com - Visit Dianne Crampton's Website |
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