Brussels, 04/05/2004 (Agence Europe) - Pascal Lamy believes that "the Doha process is back on track". However, from a European point of view, there are still a few grey areas, particularly the "heterogeneity" in the position of the G90, which groups together developing countries, most of which are in Africa, within the WTO. At the dinner with his American, Brazilian, Kenyan and South African counterparts in London last Friday (see EUROPE of 4 May, p.9), the European Commissioner set himself the objective of stabilising the G90 position. He took the opportunity of attending the meeting of the Trade Ministers of the least developed countries (LDCs) in Dakar on Tuesday, to appeal to the G90 to clarify its positions. "The EU hopes that the ministerial meeting of LDCs in Dakar will lead to the adoption of a statement expressing clearly the priorities and concerns of the LDCs", he said in his speech, adding that "in order for negotiations to reflect our priorities, it is important that you work constructively and take your responsibilities". Going over various sticking points that persist within the Doha process, Pascal Lamy confirmed the "flexibility" the EU is prepared to show on the so-called Singapore subjects. Stating that Europe considers development both "the backbone of Doha and a cross-cutting dimension of negotiations", the Commissioner pointed out that it had shown this by declaring its opposition to the adoption of the 27 proposals on special and differentiated treatment, which was on the table at Cancun. "Today, we are prepared to go further", he added, "by proposing that the G90 countries benefit from all the results of the current negotiations in all fields, without having to give anything else in return but tariff consolidations and the agreement on trade facilitation, even if it means planning ways of staggering this over time and specific technical existence for the G90".
Acknowledging that "we will not be able to keep to the deadline of the end of this year to finalise negotiations" on the Doha Development Agenda, Pascal Lamy reiterated the EU's position on agriculture. He confirmed that Europe was prepared to remove export subsidies on a list of "products of interest" for developing countries. "The strange thing is that in the year following this proposal, nobody came to put forward the products they wanted removing", he noted. The Commissioner gave the LDCs his word that there was no "hidden agenda" on agriculture, that the EU was not proposing any "a priori exclusions, and therefore all of our export subsidies are on the table (...) on the condition, obviously, that the same goes for support to exports carried out by other WTO members". On internal support, Pascal Lamy pointed out that the EU is also prepared greatly to reduce the existing ceilings for this support, as long as the US, in particular, follows suit. On market access, the central idea it to create opportunities for greater market access firstly for developing countries, he continued, citing the "Everything But Arms" initiative. He added that as part of the agricultural negotiations, the EU is pushing other developed countries and advanced developing countries to do the same.
On market access to non-agricultural products, the Commission said that a clear vision was needed on contributions to be made by the members of the WTO, depending on their capacity, the size of their market and their level of development. It is clear that the G90 countries cannot make sizeable contributions, he said, recognising that there is "a clear need (...) to protect markets and, of course, national income". "However, it is equally clear that the larger developing countries can and should make a genuine contribution", he observed, adding that "problems of erosion of preference must also be recognised".
Lastly, Pascal Lamy acknowledged that the Singapore subjects are a difficult part of negotiations. He said that there was no reason for trade facilitation to remain on the agenda of negotiations, an opinion he claimed is shared by most WTO members. The Commissioner said that trade facilitation "is clearly a win-win area for the developing countries", and that he was "ready to take on board your concerns on costs, capacities, and aid, in the modalities". On the other so-called Singapore subjects, Mr Lamy recognised that there was less support within the WTO. "We would prefer to keep transparency of public procurement in the final package, but we are aware that the vast majority of you wants this subject out of the negotiations and into calmer waters, as for competition and investment", he concluded.