Brussels, 07/11/2001 (Agence Europe) - After their two-day meeting in Brussels, the Trade Ministers of the ACP countries left for Doha, particularly united and more determined than ever to defend their interests at the fourth ministerial conference of the WTO. The decision to appoint a spokesperson for the whole of their group and the very firm declaration that they adopted bear witness to their determination to speak as one voice, and not to be left to one side with regards multilateral trade, as they believe was the case during the Uruguay Round.
Nicolas Biwott, Kenya's Trade Minister (who chairs the ACP ministerial committee) was designated as the group's spokesperson, and the Trade Minister for Guyana will be deputy spokesperson. Ministers appointed a spokesperson for each ACP region (Lesotho for southern Africa, Uganda for East Africa, Nigeria for West Africa, Congo Brazzaville for Central Africa, Fiji for the Pacific, and Saint-Vincent & Grenadines for the Caribbean) to guarantee that the interests of everyone are taken into account in the coordination meetings in Doha. Participants also include: Tanzania's Trade Minister, who chairs the group of least advanced countries (LDC), the Trade Minister for Botswana and the Ambassador for Gabon in Geneva (coordinator for the ACP ambassadors' group in Geneva).
In their declaration, the ACP ministers insist on the importance of flexibility in the rules of the multilateral trade system and on the urgent need to place development at the centre of the WTO work programme. The inclusion of new questions requires, they believe, better understanding of all the consequences on development. They restate their appeal for an end to be put to systematic recourse to unilateral coercive measures against developing countries. They call for final decisions to be taken in Doha on all the outstanding issues - including the granting of a derogation in favour of the Cotonou Agreement between the ACPs and the Union - and, if such is not the case, for such issues to be examined as a priority and settled by end 2002 at the latest. They call on the WTO to intensify its technical assistance activities and request that such aid be provided at the request of ACPs and without any conditions in the context of negotiations (Ed.: against concessions, for example.
The main guidelines resulting from the debate are:
- All ministers said they would be very strict about obtaining derogation to the WTO rules, necessary for implementation of the Cotonou Agreement. Mainly concerned about the EU/US agreement on the new Community banana regime, they decided to send a letter on Tuesday, as a matter of urgency, to Mike Moore, WTO Director, so that the matter would be included on the Doha agenda.
- After having listened to Mike Moore and Pascal Lamy, the ministers had the feeling that the concerns of the ACP countries were far from being taken into consideration as: a) the presentation of a draft WTO declaration without any brackets shows that there is a common denominator aimed at satisfying the developed countries; b) the draft text is ambiguous and imprecise and does not give any guarantee concerning, above all, the derogation for implementation of the Cotonou Agreement beyond 2005, the links between the TRIPS agreements and the urgent health needs of poor countries; c) the wish expressed by Mike Moore for the principle of a new round of talks to be accepted, as well as the examination of the controversial issues later entrusted to two committees ("friends of the President") are not acceptable for the ACPs, which will demand that consensus be reached on the main issues to be discussed; d) the promise made to them by Mr Lamy that they would be granted up to EUR 50 million more (see below) for technical commercial assistance to their advantage was welcomed but seen as a "carrot" far from meeting their demands. The ACP countries even felt there were hidden threats attributing them, in advance, the responsibility for eventual failure of the Doha conference, or stating the risk of marginalisation if such were the case.
- ACP ministers consider that their demands are a minimum and call for their declaration to be introduced in the official Doha Conference documents.
- The new offers of financial and technical assistance envisaged in parallel to the trade negotiations by Rubens Ricupero, UNCTAD Secretary General, were very favourably received.
Offer of increased financial support from the Commission to ACP countries
The EU, for its part, suggested that its ACP partners should shore up their efforts with regards commercial technical assistance and training. The offer, finalised by Poul Nielson and Pascal Lamy, provides for additional financial aid of up to EUR 50 million, in addition to the 30 million already attributed, Pascal Lamy told the press on Tuesday. This budgetary allocation comes in addition to the 20 million earmarked for the preparation of the future regional agreements and to the 10 million earmarked for ACP integration at the WTO. This means that the current EUR 50 million budget of the 9th FED will be exceeded, he said. Mr Lamy pointed out that he was convinced from his trips to the region that the failings of the current mechanism makes the task of operators difficult, mainly when it comes to respecting norms and standards, ensuring customs handling and the despatch of products, while meeting the clients' general concern for speed.