In the past
month we have had a typical indication of the wide range of
trade negotiation processes in which the countries of the
Greater Caribbean are engaged. On March 31 several key
deadlines in the World Trade Organisation (WTO) process were
reached --- and missed. From March 31 to April 4, the Third
Round of negotiations for a US-Central America Free Trade
Agreement (CAFTA) took place in El Salvador. And in mid-April
the Trade Negotiating Committee of the Free Trade Area of the
Americas (FTAA) met in Puebla, Mexico to review the final phase
of the negotiations due to be completed at the end of 2004.
The missed
deadlines in the WTO passed almost without notice. Yet it is
the WTO that sets the framework for regional and sub-regional
agreements such as the FTAA and CAFTA. In September of this
year Mexico, the largest Association of Caribbean States
member, will host the 5th WTO Ministerial Meeting in the
Caribbean resort of Cancun. As host country and Chair, Mexico
also has a strong interest in seeing a successful result.
At the 4th WTO
Ministerial Meeting in November 2001 commitments were made to
address several issues of concern to developing countries,
arising out of the flawed operation of the Marrakech Agreement,
which launched the WTO agreement in 1994.
Among the most
important of these were deficiencies in the implementation of
special and differential treatment (S&DT) for developing
countries and of Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights
(TRIPS) and Public Health.
A time table
was agreed at Doha for certain steps to have been completed by
March 31, 2003. Agreement was to have been reached on
provisions to give concrete effect to S&DT and TRIPS and
Public Health. In services, WTO members were to have put their
initial offers on liberalization on the table. And in the key
area of agriculture, consensus on the modalities of the conduct
of negotiations on market access and the elimination of
subsidies were to have been established.
News out of
Geneva is that all four of these key deadlines have been
missed, in spite of an intense series of meetings aimed at
securing agreement.
The missed
deadlines show how fragile official commitments on trade
negotiations can be, when made with the political aim of
announcing consensus from a Ministerial Meeting (Doha).
In S&DT,
the developed countries have shown little inclination to go
beyond currently existing provisions to give developing
countries extended periods of application and special
provisions for the LLDCs (least developed, or poorest,
countries).
S&DT flies
counter to the principle of the "level playing field"
on which the WTO is based. Developing countries argue that the
WTO provisions in this area are vague and unenforceable --- a
position that appears to be borne out by experience.
The Doha
declaration on TRIPS and Public Health left undefined the
rights of developing countries that lack manufacturing
capabilities to import generic medicines to meet public health
emergencies, such as HIV/AIDS. The subsequent negotiations to
give effect to this need collided with the powerful lobby of
multinational firms in the pharmaceutical industry. That
deadline too, has been missed.
The agriculture
issue is one in which there are deep divisions among the US,
the EU and Japan. But developing countries such as Brazil and
Argentina have a big stake in the outcome, for they need access
to developed country markets.
On services, so
far only 14 countries have made their initial offers, with only
two --- the US and Canada --- making them public.
Hence, a
successful outcome in Cancun will require a tremendous effort
to address the outstanding issues in the coming months.
Professor
Norman Girvan is Secretary General of the Association of
Caribbean States. The views expressed are not necessarily the
official views of the ACS. Feedback can be sent to mail@acs-aec.org
Also in this
section:
Jackson, Martín's election to lose
Girvan, Missed deadlines in trade
talks
Handal, How I quit
smoking
Snow, Address to Brazil's
AMCHAM
Peltier, How to win the
real war on terror
