Brussels, 22/11/2013 (Agence Europe) - Despite progress on the trade facilitation chapter, failure is still a possibility due to the continuing differences over the agricultural elements of a mini agreement.
Postponement until further notice of the WTO General Council meeting, initially scheduled for 21 November (due to insufficient progress made in the preparatory talks for the 9th WTO ministerial conference early December in Bali) illustrates the determination of the new leader of the organisation, Roberto Azevedo of Brazil, to reach a partial agreement on the Doha Round in Indonesia. Such a postponement, however, also illustrates how much agriculture, which was already the source of failure in Geneva in 2008 (see EUROPE 9714), remains the most sensitive chapter that could lead to yet another failure in Bali.
At the time of going to press, on Friday 22 November, Azevedo was still hoping that, by the end of the weekend, a provisional agreement could be reached between WTO member nations on the mini package on which their ministers are to agree in Bali. “The negotiations for a Bali package must be concluded in Geneva before the ministerial conference. (…) One of the clearest messages from my consultations with members is that Bali must not be a negotiating conference”, the head of the WTO pointed out on 18 November.
The core point of that partial agreement, which is to be complemented by a work programme implemented as of 2014, is an agreement on trade facilitation which is largely based on the easing of customs procedures in order to facilitate trade flows. To this agreement some member states have linked an agreement on matters relating to special and differentiated treatment for developing countries, to the needs of least developed countries (LDC) and to certain agricultural aspects: public stocks and domestic food aid, export competition, and the management of import tariff quotas.
Despite progress made on the drafting of the text on customs cooperation as part of a trade facilitation agreement, the continuing differences on the first two of the three agricultural elements of a mini agreement meant that, this week, there was still the risk of a breakdown in the talks. Addressing the trade negotiations committee on 12 November, Azevedo expressed optimism about the development chapter and LDC (including the cotton issue), where convergence is palpable between member countries on the control mechanism that will revise the way the provisions on special and differentiated treatment work. The head of the WTO did not, however, hide the fact that the agricultural chapter was still a tough nut to crack.
With just ten days to go before the conference, the 159 member countries are still looking at three proposals: - a request from the G33 developing countries headed by India for special treatment allowing restraints to be eased on domestic support concerning public stocks and domestic food aid; - a request from the emerging countries of the G20 headed by Brazil concerning the partial application of the agreement sealed in Hong Kong in 2005 on export competition, i.e. the parallel elimination of all forms of export subsidies (export credits, food aid and state trading enterprises); - and another request from G20 countries on the management of tariff rate quotas (TRQ) which are not fully used due to pointless red tape (see EUROPE 10955). (EH/transl.jl)