TRADE: Europe Shifts the Gameboard of International Talks

By Gustavo Capdevila Reprint | | Print |

Gustavo Capdevila

GENEVA, Jan 30 2001 (IPS) - The European Union (EU) launched an offensive for a new round of global trade negotiations that coincided with the decision of the World Trade Organisation to hold its next ministerial conference in Qatar.

The meeting in Doha, which is likely to take place Oct 29 to Nov 2 this year, is expected to produce a new round of international trade talks, favoured by industrialised countries but viewed with suspicion by many developing nations.

The idea of the new negotiations proposed by the 15 EU countries is based on a single notion: a partial accord on the two critical issues of investment and competition.

European sources indicated that the European Commission’s director-general for trade, Peter Carl, proposed before a group of delegates from wealthy and poor countries alike the alternative of negotiating on investment and competition in a limited, “plurilateral” arena.

The EU argues that multilateral talks, which involve the interests of each of the WTO’s 140 member nations, would only achieve agreement on the most modest goals.

Plurilateral negotiations, acknowledge the Europeans, run the risk of not reaching the critical mass necessary for the accords to produce benefits. But the sources in Brussels maintain that through the two issues – investment and competition – they would be able to attract key nations.

In the case of investment, they predict that countries would have incentive to participate in the agreement because “if they keep their distance, it would send a negative signal to foreign investors.”

The Europeans also recognise that a plurilateral accord opens the door for a two-speed system of trade norms, with different levels of commitment for its members, but they rule out the risk in light of the threat it would pose for countries that do not sign the treaty.

They deny that the European bloc has a major interest in investment and competition, that it is willing to “pay the price” so that they are included among the issues covered in a new round of trade talks.

On the contrary, it is the developing countries that are most interested in the two matters, or at least as much as industrialised countries, because they need to attract investment and are opposed to anti-competitive practices, they said.

A Latin American trade negotiator, who requested his name withheld, commented that the Europeans are playing down their interest in the investment and competition issues in order to reach an accord outside the multilateral negotiations.

The officials in Brussels speculate with the security that after consolidating a plurilateral accord they will be able to pressure the remaining countries to sign on, said the Latin American diplomat.

The European initiative was presented as a sort of survey to representatives from Australia, Brazil, Japan, Switzerland, Chile, Hungary, South Africa, Thailand, South Korea, Mexico, Morocco, Egypt, Hong Kong, Singapore, Turkey and India.

Though it has already triggered criticism, the EU proposal was able to activate the tone of the talks at the WTO, which had languished since the failure of the last ministerial conference, held in the US city of Seattle, in December 1999.

It also contributed to the decision taken Tuesday by the WTO General Council to accept the invitation of the Qatar government to host the next ministerial conference in Doha.

The WTO Secretariat initially proposed meeting Nov 5-9, but the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) had already announced its conference of ministers and heads of state for Nov 5- 7 in Rome.

The representatives of the WTO member nations agreed to consult their respective governments about the new proposed dates of Oct 29 to Nov 2.