TRADE: WTO Talks Stop, Start, Stop.

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Stefania Bianchi

BRUSSELS, Dec 16 2003 (IPS) - The World Trade Organisation must revise its rules on trade liberalisation if the Doha Development Round is to succeed, leading non-governmental organisations say.

A formal relaunch of the stalled global trade talks was deferred for at least two months Monday after the World Trade Organisation (WTO) admitted that deep differences between rich and poor countries had still to be settled.

Leading non-governmental organisations (NGOs) blame the WTO for the collapse of the talks. They say the international trading body must be reformed if the Doha Development Round (DDR) is to be advanced.

“Now is the time for governments around the world to realise that the current WTO does not and cannot deliver fair and sustainable economies,” Ronnie Hall of Friends of the Earth International (FoEI) told IPS. “What is needed is a real and far-reaching shift in the way governments approach the management of our economies at the national, regional and international levels.”

Hall added that there is a “pressing need to look at the current set of WTO trade-liberalisation rules which favour rich countries, rich companies and rich people at the expense of poor countries, poor communities and the environment.”

FoEI is calling on WTO members to reject any new issues outright, and to replace export-oriented agricultural policies with a focus on food sovereignty and sustainable agriculture.

It says negotiations over the potential conflict between trade rules and multilateral environmental agreements should be moved to the “less biased” United Nations.

“This cannot be seen as just another missed deadline,” Hall said. “WTO negotiations have stalled again and again because they cannot deliver what people really need – healthy, thriving local economies everywhere and sustainable levels of natural resource use.”

Since its launch almost two years ago, the Doha Development Round (DDR) has made little progress. Talks were deadlocked again Monday night after an EU-WTO meeting in Geneva failed to resolve tensions over farm subsidies, industrial tariffs, textile trade and negotiations on new sectors.

Members had hoped that the meeting would evaluate the failure of the global trade talks in Cancun, Mexico in September, and bring fresh momentum to the stalled negotiations.

The Cancun talks broke down mainly over how much and how quickly rich powers should cut the estimated 350 billion dollars a year they spend on farm subsidies, and on whether negotiations should be widened to include new issues demanded by the European Union. These include trade and competition policy, trade facilitation and transparency in government procurement.

Developing countries within the WTO are pressing for reductions and ultimately elimination of official assistance from governments in rich nations to their farmers. Such measures, they say, distort trade and make it impossible for poor countries to market their agricultural products on a global scale.

While both the United States and the EU say they are committed to cutting subsidies, they have yet to reach an agreement with developing countries on how fast and how comprehensive such action should be.

Unable to come to an agreement in Mexico, ministers told their WTO envoys to find a compromise by Dec. 15 to restart the round which is due to conclude by the end of next year.

FoEI regretted the failure of the talks Monday but said “no deal is still better than a bad deal.”

The international aid agency Oxfam International regretted the “missed opportunity” and said failure of the talks would sentence millions to enduring poverty.

“The failure of the talks, while not a surprise, is a huge disappointment to millions of poor people that could benefit from trade reform,” said Michael Bailey, senior policy adviser at Oxfam.

“Since talks collapsed in Cancun, developing countries have shown their willingness to get back to the negotiating table. It is rich country stubbornness that has caused this stalemate. There was bound to be a period of re- assessment but the time has come to put an end to the hand-wringing and finger-pointing, and revive genuine negotiations.”

WTO officials seemed confident of progress despite the setback. “Our collective aim for today, as instructed by ministers in Cancun, was to arrive at a point where the negotiations can resume full momentum,” Director-General of WTO Supachai Pantichpakdi told members Monday. “We are not at this point yet but we should not be disheartened.”