TWN Report by Goh Chien Yen, Geneva, 17 December 2003
The Group of 90 (G90) developing countries has called for the Singapore Issues to be dropped completely from the WTO agenda and if this were done it would signal there is respect for the will of the majority of WTO members. It also expressed disappointment that since Cancun, and at the General Council meeting of 15-16 December, there had not been commitment by the developed countries to address the G90’s development concerns.
The G90 is a tripartite alliance of the Africa Union (AU), the African, Carribean and Pacific Group (ACP) and Least Developed Countries (LDCs), forming a majority of developing countries in the WTO.
The G90 gave a press conference at the WTO on 16 December afternoon, after the meeting of the WTO General Council. Representing the G90 were Ambassador J. Meetoo of Mauritius (who coordinates the Africa Group in the WTO), Ambassador Charles Ntwaangae of Botswana (coordinator in Geneva of the ACP Group), and Ambassador Toufiq Ali of Bangladesh (ccordinator of the LDC Group in the WTO).
In response to a question on the G90’s position on the Singapore Issues, Ambassador Ntwaangae said: “Our alliance has long proclaimed that the Singapore Issues are not priority issues for us. Ideally our position is that all these issues should be dropped completely from the WTO agenda. If this happens, it will signal respect for the will of the majority. We form a majority of the membership. If it happens, it will demonstrate a very important principle regarding respect for the will of the majority, given that the WTO is a member-driven organisation.”
Asked whether the G90 would go along with the proposal submitted by 16 countries that further work on three Singapore issues should be dropped, whilst work to clarify issues on trade facilitation can continue, Ambassador Ntwaangae said: “That group of 16 countries is sending a signal they are committed to bringing the (overall) talks on track, that of the four evils, they are willing to work alongside one of them.
“For the G90, we don’t know what is on the table, whether 1 plus zero, 2 plus 2, 3 plus one. Whatever the arithmetic, it is not a priority for us.
“These are not issues of priority. Ideally they should be dropped from the agenda of the WTO.
“A plurilateral approach has been mentioned. Our position is that we don’t support a plurilateral approach. It is divisive and would create a two tier system, and it would bring disharmony in the system. Neither do we support a opt-in opt-out approach which would undermine the integrity of the multilateral trading system.”
He then provided arguments why there should not be rules negotiated on government procurement. According to Ambassador Ntwaangae, public procurement is an important area in which developing countries use to pursue their development policies. “Procurement is an avenue for governments to pursue policy goals of economic empowerment. Once WTO rules develop, the policy space we need is seriously constrained. It will be very difficult to exercise flexibility they need. We are therefore especially apprehensive about what proposed rules (ijn the WTO) mean in relation to procurement.”
On trade facilitation, Ntwaangae said that facilitating trade was part of the work of the WTO, “but whether we should have a trade facilitation regime in the WTO is the question. We have the World Customs Organisation. Why should the WTO get into this territory and develop rules when there are already other bodies dealing with it?”
Ambassador Toufiq Ali commented that on trade facilitation, the developing countries are already taking national measures to facilitate trade. But the developing countries up to now did not know what the demandeurs want from having multilateral rules on trade facilitation.
At the start of the press conference, speaking on behalf of the alliance, Ambassador Meetoo said that after the General Council meeting of 16-17 December, “We must acknowledge the results are disappointing, our development concerns such as implementation issues and special ands differential treatment which are so important for us, have not been addressed.”
He explained that these three groupings of countries have decided to restart and re-energize this alliance in order to ensure that the negotiations really address their development concerns as promised in the Doha agenda. This is because “when we went to Cancun we saw that all the promises of the Doha Development Agenda have not been delivered in Cancun,” he said.
“We express disappointment with the way things have evolved since Cancun. Back in Geneva, the tripartite alliance of countries showed we are engaged but we are disturbed we do not see the same level of engagement by our developed country partners.”
The failure of these developing countries to benefit from the international trading system has been a long-standing problem, according to Meetoo. “We have made considerable concessions in the Uruguay Round and the subsequent negotiations. However, we do not feel that we have benefited from the trade expansion since the Uruguay Round. We are still marginalized in international trade and our developments concerns are ignored. There’s a lack of genuine commitment by our developed partners to address our concerns.”
Nonetheless, according to Meetoo, “prior to Cancun, at Cancun and after Cancun, we have engaged constructively despite our constraints…to move forward the negotiations….the results so far has been disappointing. Our development concerns such as issues of special and differential treatment and Implementation-Related issues and concerns that are so important for us have not been addressed.
“When the chairman of the general council decided to have consultations on only the four issues of agriculture, NAMA, cotton and Singapore issues, we have cooperated and engaged. But what do we see today? After two months of consultations we see no agreements on the frameworks for agriculture and NAMA. On the cotton issue, which is very important for African countries, there has been a lack of demonstrable political will to resolve the issue.”
On the negotiating process, Meetoo said that “the alliance attaches great importance to an inclusive and transparent process. In this regard, “we welcome the proposal of the Chair of the General to reactivate the Negotiating Bodies. This is where the real negotiations will take place.” He pointed out that the two months of consultations have not yielded results.
He was confident that the “Alliance will be fully engaged. And that we hope that out major trading partners will do the same and resolve these outstanding issues.”
A communiqué on the General Council Meeting of 15 to 16th December 2004 was also issued by the Tripartite Alliance.
It said the alliance of countries attaches great importance to an inclusive and transparent process, and welcomed the proposed reactivation of the negotiating bodies. It underscored its renewed commitment to an equitable multilateral trading system and negotiations, and urged the major players in the WTO to inject momentum so that the Doha mandates are fulfilled.
