May 2, 1985
THIRD WORLD REITERATES STAND ON NEW ROUND.
GENEVA, APRIL 30 (IFDA/CHAKRAVARTHI RAGHAVAN) – Third World countries in the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade reiterated Tuesday their position against launching a new round or focussing on preparations for it, without prior implementation of past commitments and the unfinished business in GATT.-This position was put forward at the GATT Council by India’s Shrirang P. Shukla, speaking for the informal group of Third World countries.- The Indian statement was supported among others by Brazil, Egypt and Yugoslavia.- The United States and Japan repeated their call for launching a new round, and for beginning preparations for it through a high level GATT meeting and establishment of a Preparatory Committee.- The EEC professed sympathy for the Third World position and concerns over a new round, but argued it was in the interests of the Third World to join the new round, rather than blocking the new round or preparations for it.- The issue itself came up in the Council under the catchall "any other business".- Austria, Sweden and several others commented on this "odd way" of discussions in the Council, and suggested the issue should be formally brought on the agenda of the next Council meeting in June for discussion.- A GATT spokesman viewed the outcome as "progress", insofar as everyone was ready to talk through a formally and suitable worded agenda item.- Third World sources later noted that since November 1984, they had been seeking a discussion in the Council and GATT bodies on their joint stand for improvement of world trade relations, and thus would welcome an opportunity to discuss issues raised by them in June, provided the agenda item did not prejudge the issue of a new round or preparations for it.- They noted that Austria had suggested an agenda formulation of "recent developments and future of GATT".- At the Council meeting Tuesday afternoon, Shukla drew attention once again to the joint statement of the Third World countries presented at the last meeting of the Contracting Parties.- The Third World countries, Shukla added, had in that statement clearly set out their position with regard to a new round and the conditions before it could be launched.- "The situation has not changed, and the points raised in the joint statement presented at the GATT Contracting Parties meeting remain as true today as six months ago", Shukla underlined.- This position had been reiterated by the Third World Ministers in the Group of 24 in Washington (on April 16) at the time of the IMF/IBRD Development Committee meetings, and it was time the GATT Council addressed the issues raised by the Third World countries in their statement.- Despite their repeated efforts, the Third World group had not been able to secure a discussion in GATT of its position.- At a time when problems and solutions for the multilateral trading system were being discussed everywhere else, it was time for the Council to address itself to the joint position of the Third World countries, Shukla added.- In their joint position paper of November 23, 1984, the Third World informal group in GATT had called on the industrial Contracting Parties (CPs) to individually and promptly implement their undertakings (at the 1982 GATT Ministerial meeting) "to lift measures inconsistent with GATT, or not based on specific GATT disciplines, which restrict or have the effect of restricting exports of developing countries to their markets, and refrain from introducing new ones".- The joint paper also called on the industrial CPs, in the field of multilateral actions, to agree to "engage in serious efforts, on a priority basis, to implement all other aspects of the current GATT work programme of particular interest to the trade of developing countries".- If the industrial CPs complied with their undertakings, the joint paper had said, the Third World countries would be prepared to consider "taking the initiative of proposing specific trade negotiations in GATT", whose basic objective would be "significant enlargement of access for developing countries' exports to the markets of developed countries".- "Such specific trade negotiations", they had further said, "must be confined to trade in goods only, and should cover manufactured and semi-processed goods as well as agriculture and natural resource products and encompass the totality of tariff and non-tariff barriers".- Speaking for the Community, Amb. Tran Van-Thin, said the EEC went along a lot with the views of the Third World group and their concerns over the GATT work programme, for genuine trade liberalisation under the multilateral system, and on items relating to trade in textiles and clothing (where the Third World seeks an end to the Multifibre Arrangements).- Without however going into details of the Third World position, Tran interpreted the Third World statement as being consistent with the Community's stand on a new round in GATT.- He underlined in this connection the statement of the EEC Ministers in Brussels on the conditions for the EEC support to a new round.- As had then been made clear, the EEC support would depend on there being "a sufficient level of prior consensus on the content, general participation, and time-table for the new round".- Also, in the Community’s view, there was need to address issues of monetary and financial reforms.- The Community was prepared to go along with negotiations in traditional sectors like agriculture, and "if in that process we do not lose our soul", consideration could be given to the inclusion of new issues like services, counter-feinting and protection of intellectual property rights.- Tran also raised the issue of the EEC's trade imbalances in exchanges with Japan, and complained that in the Tokyo Round the EEC had not gained as much as Japan had vis-a-vis the Community in regard to trade in manufactures. These issues too would have to be addressed in the new round.- Expressing sympathy with the Third World countries' problems on debt and high interest rates, Tran noted the "reticence" of the Third World to a new round.- The Community did not see the new round "as a trap" for the Third World, but rather felt it would be very much in the interests of the Third World to participate in any such new round.- It was certainly not in the interests of the Third World group to block any moves for a new round. The Community would "lobby" in the capitals to create a consensus in favour of the new round, he added.- Brazil’ s Batista referred to the communique of the G-24 and of the Development Committee, and said any examination in GATT of the agenda for a new round or negotiations for it, must take account of the position expressed by the Third World in its joint statement.- "There would also have to be very careful consideration of any discussion on the proposals for extension of GATT rules into areas not covered by the original general agreement", Batista added, in a reference to the U.S. moves for including "trade in services" and other new issues in GATT.- Peter Murphy of the U.S.A., regretted the references in GATT to discussions and communiques of meetings elsewhere – presumably a reference to India and Brazil quoting from the G-24 communique.- The U.S. was anxious to have a discussion of, and reach a consensus on the modalities and the time-table for a new round, and the issue should hence be put on the Council's agenda.- The U.S. view was supported by Japan’s Minoro Endo, who also suggested a high-level GATT meeting on July 22, to talk about the preparations for a new round and start the preparatory process, so that the new round could be launched early in 1986.- Endo however sharply questioned the EEC view of its trade relations with Japan.- Egypt’s Mahmound Abdel-Bari Hamza felt it was "premature" to talk about a new round before completion of the GATT work programme, while Yugoslavia's Kazimir Vidas supported the indian statement on the issue.- Jamaica’s Anthony Hill underlined the link between monetary and trade questions, and complained about the procedures of the Council work, as a result of which a substantive issue was being discussed under "any other business".-