TRADE: UN to Assist Developing Countries in Talks

By Gustavo Capdevila Reprint | | Print |

Gustavo Capdevila

GENEVA, Feb 6 2002 (IPS) - A United Nations agency launched a technical assistance plan to help developing nations overcome the hurdles they will face in the coming World Trade Organisation (WTO) multilateral talks.

The programme must be implemented quickly, because the deadlines set for negotiations on agriculture and services by the declaration approved in November at the WTO ministerial conference in Doha, Qatar will begin to expire within the next few months.

The General Agreement on Trade in Services specifically states that proposals for the negotiations must be presented to the WTO by Jun 30.

In the area of services, developing countries have presented proposals for negotiations in tourism, energy, audiovisual services and the movements of persons.

In the negotiations, developing nations must wage an unceasing fight against the problems standing in the way of fuller participation in the global trade in services, said United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) Secretary-General Rubens Ricúpero.

The Doha conference agreed that the talks should be completed by Jan 1, 2005. The negotiations will focus on agriculture, services, trade and the environment, WTO rules, industrial tariffs, and implementation of the accords that arose from the Uruguayan round (1986-94), the last round of talks.

In the new round of talks, developing countries want to see enforcement of the principle of special and differentiated treatment, which recognises that WTO members vary widely in size, and favours smaller economies when it comes to the implementation of trade agreements.

During the Uruguay round, the principle of special and differentiated treatment found itself in crisis, said Ricúpero. Now, partly due to the action of the anti-globalisation movement, it has been revived, at least “rhetorically,” he added.

UNCTAD presented its technical assistance plan Monday to help developing nations engage in the new round of talks with a greater chance of success.

Ricúpero said that in order to strengthen their negotiating capacity and maximise the potential benefits to be gained, developing countries must clearly define their objectives, and set forth their own proposals.

They must also have a clear vision of the development values at stake in the negotiations, he said, which means they must identify the proposals that are most vital to the application of effective development strategies.

Another requisite is for poor countries to envision feasible solutions, and translate them into concrete results in the talks, said the UNCTAD official.

UNCTAD’s technical assistance plan, to apply to multilateral as well as regional trade negotiations, emerged in response to requests from developing nations.

The assistance will cover, for example, the 77 former European colonies in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific when they engage in negotiations with the European Union on trade in services.

The assistance is to be adapted to the specific characteristics of the beneficiaries, which include countries of varying levels of development.

The beneficiaries range from the poorest countries – the 49 least developed nations (LDCs) – to economies in the midst of the transition to a higher level of development.

The assistance will be tailored to each country, in consultation with the beneficiaries. UNCTAD plans to carry out specific activities for LDCs, African nations, small island states and small economies.

The technical assistance plan will focus on four aspects: trade, investment, trade facilitation and e-commerce.

UNCTAD plans to hold one-week symposiums in each region, while offering training courses at its headquarters in Geneva, workshops on facilitating the talks, and political analyses on the four main areas.

The costs of the programme were estimated at two million dollars for 2002, and three million for next year.

Bangladesh representative Toufiq Ali, spokesperson for the LDCs in Geneva, welcomed the plan, and said he would work with UNCTAD and donor countries to drum up the necessary funding.

Ricúpero said there were WTO funds available, and noted that a meeting would be held in April in the Netherlands to study formulas for financing the technical assistance programme.