Norman Girvan, From Doha to Cancun

Back in November 2001, after the 4th Ministerial Meeting of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Qatar, this column spoke of the "Doha Dilemma." The dilemma consisted in different interpretations of the outcome of the meeting: had Doha reached agreement to launch a new round of global trade negotiations, or not?

The developed countries announced that Doha marked the start of fresh negotiations that would embrace rules for investment, for government procurement, for competition policy and for trade facilitation. In WTO parlance these are the "Singapore issues." The negotiations would be the "Doha Development Round," which would supposedly address the needs of the developing countries.

In this interpretation, the only thing left to be decided was the modalities of the negotiations.

But many developing countries had a different interpretation. They pointed to a statement from the Doha Conference Chairman that negotiations would only commence on the Singapore issues on the basis of an "explicit consensus" at the 5th Ministerial.

The statement was issued on the insistence of a group of Asian, African and Caribbean countries which felt that they were being railroaded into supporting a Conference Declaration that did not reflect their true position.

They were sending a message to the industrialized countries. Failure to heed that message was at the root of the breakdown of the 5th Ministerial at Cancun last week.

One aspect of the message related to procedure. From the time of the disastrous 3rd Ministerial in Seattle in 1999, developing countries had been protesting at the non-transparency of WTO decision-making processes. In effect, agreements were reached among major players in so-called "Green Room" meetings and then presented to the 140-plus membership for rubber-stamping.

One senior Caribbean negotiator recounted to me how he was physically removed from a "Green Room" meeting in Doha, because he was known as an articulate spokesman for the position of the African, Caribbean and Pacific group of countries.

Developing countries were now signaling that all WTO members would need to explicitly indicate their agreement to a decision on new negotiations. Failing this, the decision would lack validity.

There were also substantive reasons for caution in starting negotiations on the Singapore issues. For one thing, preparations will be expensive and time-consuming for the issues are technically complex and cover a wide range. The least developed and the smaller developing countries, in particular, feel highly disadvantaged in such a process.

For another, agreeing to rules on investment, government procurement and competition will bring the WTO deeply into areas of domestic policy that impinge on national sovereignty and on the right to choose development policies in accordance with national priorities.

And third, there is deep dissatisfaction with the lack of implementation of commitments made under previous agreements. A major bone of contention is massive agricultural subsidies in the rich countries that depress the prices of products exported by poor countries, further impoverishing their farmers.

Failure to make effective provision for Special and Differential Treatment (SDT) of developing countries is another sore point. The Association of Caribbean States has been working on the technical features of an SDT regime for small economies, that will be further refined at a seminar in Caracas later this month.

Cancun failed to achieve "explicit consensus" on negotiations on the new issues because these concerns were not adequately addressed. What was new was the unity and determination of the developing countries, including the largest (China, India, Brazil), represented by the newly formed Group of 21.

Cancun showed that such unity among the countries of the South can affect the outcome of global negotiations. This applies to other negotiating arenas, such as finance and the environment. And it is an object lesson on the need for unity for us in the Greater Caribbean.

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:
Duran, Integrity and betrayal at Seguro Social
Landau, Guillermo Novo and me
Gush Shalom, Israel's assassination policy
Sanders, America's shrinking
Girvan, The WTO's failure at Cancun
Jackson, Free trade negotiating principles

opinion

From Doha to Cancun