TWN
Info Service on WTO and Trade Issues (May18/06)
14 May 2018
Third World Network
WTO secretariat slated by DCs over its work on pluris, ignoring
DDA
Published in SUNS #8678 dated 9 May 2018
Geneva, 8 May (D. Ravi Kanth) - India, South Africa, and several other
developing and least-developed countries on Monday (7 May) have raised
a red flag at the World Trade Organization, over the Secretariat's
controversial role in deliberately advancing work on the plurilateral
initiatives while ignoring multilateral work on unresolved mandated
issues of the Doha work program, trade envoys told SUNS.
Without naming the United States, a large majority of developing and
developed countries also slammed a "major industrialized country"
for paralysing the WTO through its unilateral trade actions and repeated
attempts to block the selection process for filling the vacancies
at the Appellate Body.
The developing countries voiced their criticism of the Secretariat
and of t he US at an informal Trade Negotiations Committee (TNC) meeting
at the WTO on Monday.
The issues are expected to figure prominently at the formal meeting
of the General Council on Tuesday (8 May).
India, South Africa, and other developing countries also categorically
rejected attempts to alter the architecture for the special and differential
flexibilities for developing countries, by introducing "differentiation"
as demanded by the United States and a few other industrialized countries.
Indonesia, on behalf of the G33 farm coalition, India, China, and
several other developing countries called for accelerating work on
the permanent solution for public stockholding programs for food security,
special safeguard mechanism (SSM) and other unresolved issues in the
Doha agricultural dossier for "substantial reform of Trade Distorting
Domestic Support; notably Cotton; a permanent solution for Public
Stockholding; and advancing the discussions on a Special Safeguard
Mechanism."
The African Group, said Ambassador Xavier Carim of South Africa, will
"underscore that special and differential treatment must be integral
to any outcome on agriculture, and we would seek to ensure that LDCs
and NFIDCs are exempted from further commitments."
At the informal Trade Negotiations Committee meeting, India and South
Africa squarely brought up the role of the WTO Secretariat in promoting
the inform al plurilateral initiatives while ignoring the mandated
multilateral work as set out in the Doha work program which is the
basis for the continuation of the Trade Negotiations Committee.
India's trade envoy Ambassador J S Deepak said "the primary role
of the WTO Secretariat is to support and strengthen the multilateral
track" as per "the Marrakesh Agreement," according
to trade envoys familiar with India's stand .
"Therefore," he argued, "the limited resources of the
Secretariat should remain focused on mandated issues and existing
areas of work in the WTO."
"We urge the Secretariat to accord priority to the work of the
regular bodies and negotiating groups over the Joint Statement Groups
[that were informally launched on electronic commerce, domestic regulation
for services, investment facilitation, disciplines for micro, small,
and medium enterprises, and economic empowerment of women] that were
only informal groupings."
Despite repeated requests by India to update the Mode 4 [short-term
movement of services providers under the movement of natural persons],
the WTO Secretariat apparently refused to provide information on the
ground that one or two members had blocked India's request.
Against this backdrop, India said it "reiterates its request
to the Secretariat to update the Mode 4 submission before the CTS
[Council for Trade in Services]."
Speaking on the Secretariat's role, South Africa's trade envoy Ambassador
Xavier Carim made two points:
"First, we all know this work [on joint ministerial statements
for plurilateral initiatives] is not part of our multilateral process,"
said Ambassador Carim. "They are informal processes and at this
stage, it is not clear where they will end up," he added.
"Second, questions have indeed been raised about the role of
the Secretariat in these processes," said Ambassador Carim.
"To be fully transparent and to ensure impartiality on what is
a divisive issue, we would welcome a focused discussion on the extent
of the Secretariat's support in these processes under the Joint Statements,"
Ambassador Carim maintained.
Several other countries such as Uganda, Zimbabwe, Cuba, and Bolivia
among others also raised sharp concerns over the role played by the
Secretariat in promoting the plurilateral initiatives.
The WTO director-general Roberto Azevedo said the Secretariat is ready
to provide all assistance to the informal plurilateral initiatives.
Norway and several other countries praised the role of the Secretariat
in i ts work, including the assistance provided for plurilateral initiatives.
On joint ministerial statements issued on the margins of the WTO's
eleventh ministerial meeting, India said there is "a new trend
in Geneva in the form of joint initiatives in some areas."
"Though proponents say these plurilateral discussions are a stepping
stone to multilateral agreements, we do not see the logic of having
such discussions outside the WTO for e-commerce and domestic regulation
in services where a multilateral mandate exists," said Ambassador
Deepak.
"India has also," said Ambassador Deepak, explained its
"reservations on the introduction of new issues such as Investment
Facilitation and MSMEs in the WTO till issues under the Doha Work
Programme are addressed."
On behalf of the African Group of countries, South Africa said "previous
Ministerial mandates and Members' submissions prior to MC11, including
submissions by the Group, should continue to guide the negotiations."
The African Group also reiterated its "support for the development
objectives embedded in the DDA, particularly in respect of placing
the needs of developing countries at the heart of the work program."
Commenting on the "development file," South Africa, on behalf
of the Africa n Group, raised three points. First, the African Group
said that it remains committed to "advancing the G90 proposals
on special and differential treatment in accordance with the mandate
establishing the CTDSS (Committee on Trade and Development in Special
Session).
Second, it is imperative to address the proposals of the Group of
90 countries on "special and differential treatment" on
a war footing.
And third, the African Group will not support proposals for limiting
the scope of S&DT (special and differential treatment flexibilities)
or altering the architecture of development as set out in the Marrakesh
Agreement.
He said the African Group needs developmental flexibilities to pursue
economic development, particularly in the industrial sector.
India said that "special and differential treatment provisions
for all developing countries and least-developed countries are an
integral part of the WTO agreement and this principle would need to
be protected in all future agreements as well."
Ambassador Deepak said India will not accept any approach based on
selection for availing special and differential flexibilities.
China said that "the fundamental question for development is
capacity divide" emphasizing that "special and differential
treatment provisions are written in black and white in the WTO rulebook."
Beijing maintained that they are not so-called "perks or advantages",
rather they are the limited tools to fill the capacity gap and necessary
means for developing countries to exercise the right to develop their
economy.
Several other developing counties said they will not accept any changes
in the S&DT architecture.
The US launched a broadside against the existing architecture for
special and differential flexibilities for developing countries at
the informal Trade Negotiations Committee meeting.
"We have unfortunately allowed some clumsy and blunt structures
- notably, self-designation of development status, and an apparent
inability to distinguish among different kinds of developing countries
- to get in the way of our collective progress," said Ambassador
Dennis Shea, the new deputy US Trade Representative and Ambassador
to the WTO.
He said that a meaningful discussion on this issue is currently underway.
Ambassador Shea emphasized that members must "look for ways to
break out of old patterns, as we [the US] see little likelihood of
any future multilateral outcomes if the issue of development status
is not fully addressed."
In sum, the informal Trade Negotiations Committee meeting brought
into the open the dubious role of the WTO Secretariat in advancing
plurilateral initiatives while turning its back on the mandated multilateral
issues of the Doha work program, trade envoys said.