Development & Aid, Economy & Trade, Europe, Headlines

TRADE: Big Players Making Moves For Doha

Stefania Bianchi

BRUSSELS, Jun 2 2004 (IPS) - Influential players are making new moves to advance the stalled Doha Development Round.

Top trade officials from the European Union (EU), the United States and developing countries will discuss agricultural barriers to the talks in two rounds of talks in Geneva this month.

The first two-day meeting started Wednesday and the second will be held June 23-26.

Officials say the first round will test how far some countries are willing to go. One goal is to set parameters for negotiations on dismantling farm trade barriers – one of the biggest obstacles in the talks.

Negotiators have urged more political will in restarting the Doha trade round since the World Trade Organisation (WTO) meeting collapsed in Cancun last September mainly over the billions of dollars a year rich countries spend on farm subsidies.

The negotiations were launched in Doha in Qatar in 2001. They were scheduled to conclude this year, but are months behind schedule.

Governments have been looking again at ways to bring the talks back on track. The EU offered last month to drop subsidies on agriculture exports if the United States, Canada and Australia did the same. So far these countries have been reluctant to move on this issue.

It also toned down its demands for new trade rules known as the ‘Singapore Issues’ that cover trade facilitation, transparency in government procurement, cross-border investment and competition.

EU commissioner for agriculture Franz Fischler called on the United States, Australia and Canada to match the EU on the forms of export support they use, such as export credits, abuse of food aid or state trading enterprises.

Although these countries have not come forward with a formal offer, they appear to be more open to negotiations.

Even Japan, which has been reluctant to cut agricultural subsidies, has indicated a more positive approach to the talks.

The latest group to come to the table with a new proposal is the Group of 20 (G20) developing countries which emerged with force after the talks collapsed in Cancun.

The group unveiled an alternative plan on May 28 that sought to place most of the responsibility for tariff cuts on rich countries.

Its proposal, which will be on the table for negotiators in Geneva for farm negotiations, asks relatively little of developing countries, who would not have to open their markets to imports in products they decide are too sensitive.

The group led by Brazil, India and South Africa rejected a joint EU- U.S. blueprint on tariff barriers, or the so-called “blended formula” which would have allowed the EU and the U.S. to keep their peak tariffs, while developing countries would have had to open their markets further.

Developing countries, for many of which agriculture is a mainstay, would be allowed to reduce tariffs at a lower rate and over a longer period.

They could also designate certain domestic markets as out of bounds to importers.

“We consider this position a positive contribution to the negotiations,” said Brazil’s ambassador to the WTO Luiz Felipe Seixas Correa, who acted as spokesperson for the group.

Oxfam called the G20 proposal “an essential step” in breaking the deadlock.

“This shows that the G20, which includes major agricultural exporters such as Brazil and Argentina, is willing to take on board legitimate concerns of poorer developing countries, which are less competitive and need to protect some of their markets to ensure food security and rural development,” Jo Leadbeater of Oxfam International told IPS.

Officials are concerned that unless a negotiating framework is agreed by the end of July, the Doha round risks being sidelined by a new structure in the enlarged European Commission and by the U.S. presidential elections in November.

But even optimists believe breakthroughs are possible in this month’s meetings with a potential framework agreed by the July deadline.

WTO Director-General Supachai Panitchpakdi urged trade negotiators last month “to show the world that Geneva is capable of delivering significant results.”

Mogens Peter Carl, Director-General for Trade at the European Commission says the talks can be rescued if the basic premises of the trade round are reviewed.

“This round can be saved, just not as we originally foresaw it at Doha three years ago,” he told media representatives last week.

Progress on the agriculture issue is necessary “as is a substantial increase in market access and trade in services,” he said. Negotiations on the Singapore issues should be “skimmed down” and the contribution of the least developed countries should be rethought.

“Reform of existing agricultural subsidies globally has to be a main objective, at least in advanced countries,” he said.

“The huge European reform potential has been put on the table in Geneva,” he added. “Major reform of the subsidy structures in developed countries is clearly overdue, and a substantial overhaul of the WTO rules.”