Brussels, 26/02/2013 (Agence Europe) - Pascal Lamy, who will be leaving his post as the head of the WTO end August this year, is sticking to course with a view to reaching an agreement at the ministerial conference in December on trade facilitation, part of the agriculture chapter and Doha Round issues regarding the least developed countries (LDC).
“Step up your engagement, listen to each other and accelerate work on all fronts”. Such is the message delivered by WTO Director General Pascal Lamy to the 158 member nations at one of his last general councils, on Monday 25 February. At the seat of the multilateral organisation, negotiators are now focusing on the three issues on the agenda of the 9th ministerial conference to be held in Bali from 3 to 6 December this year. These are: trade facilitation (regulations and formalities, simplification of customs procedures); certain elements of the agriculture chapter; and special and differentiated treatment, including the needs of the LDC. The possibility of reaching compromises on each of these subjects will be assessed this summer, but a first intermediary report is due around Easter.
Looking ahead to Bali on a “mini-package” for agriculture, the WTO farm talks committee is currently focusing on a proposal aimed at giving developing countries greater flexibility in their food security policies. Two proposals on elements of the draft comprehensive agreement drawn up in July 2008 are on the table. The first comes from the emerging countries of the G20, headed by Brazil, with the support of the agricultural exporting countries of the Cairns Group, represented by Australia, which suggests a compromise should be reached on the question of import tariff quotas. The other proposal comes from the developing countries of the G33, headed by Indonesia and India, which want to adopt provisions to ease discipline regarding domestic aid programmes of the “green box” kind in order to ensure food security for poor farmers. The meeting in Bali could also cover other proposals of the agricultural chapter, if sufficient progress is made in preparation of such talks. These would relate to export competition (a suggestion put forward by Brazil and Australia), export restrictions (importing countries of the G10), and cotton (Brazil and four African countries).
On Monday, Lamy also mentioned three other topics outside the Doha Round which could achieve results in Bali, depending on the progress made between now and then. These are: aid to trade, which facilitates trade by developing countries and especially the LDC, by lifting the various constraints at the level of supply, infrastructure and trading capacity; the agreement on information technologies and communication (ITA), concluded in 1996, for which the product coverage is currently under review; and the agreement on public procurement (GPA) of 1994, for which 2011 revision is to be implemented. (EH/transl.jl)