May 20, 1998

MINISTERS TO PRESCRIBE GREATER LIBERALISATION

 

Geneva, May 18 (IPS/Gustavo Capdevila) -- The economic liberalisation process will stride out strengthened from the World Trade Organisation (WTO) ministerial conference opened here Monday.  

The draft of the final declaration, to be approved in the closing session, Wednesday, includes clauses considering the liberalisation of investments, an issue fervently questioned by the developing nations.  

Negotiation of a multilateral investment agreement was the main target of criticism during demonstrations against the WTO by citizens, reaching a peak this weekend in Geneva with rallies of some 5,000 anti-free trade protesters. 

The draft declaration also accepts the possibility of the WTO reconsidering issues believed to have escaped its jurisdiction forever, like the difficult questions of labour rights and the environment in relation to trade.  

The ministers asked the WTO General Council to hold an extraordinary meeting next September to draw up recommendations for the work programme to be discussed in the ministerial meeting in 1999.  

But the recommendations must clear up all the pending issues, as most of the developed countries desire.  

As a concession to the developing countries, the ministers began the list of recommendations with the issue of the application of the agreements already sealed.  

The Southern countries complained to the industrialised countries that the multilateral trade agreements are systematically ignored when they favour the interests of the poor nations.

 As well as investments, the WTO General Council will have to make recommendations on the possibility of sustaining negotiations on other issues being considered, like the transparency of public contracting and the relation between trade and competition.  

The draft, approved Sunday by the negotiators of the 132 WTO member nations, in practice represented a triumph for the diplomacy of the European Union, which called for new global negotiations for the year 2000, in the so-called "Millenium Round." 

The United States, the other leading power within the WTO, had been more cautious, proposing only sectoral negotiations, like on the liberalisation of electronic trade.  

Another sector benefitted is the Cairns Group, which includes agricultural exporter countries who do not subsidise their trade. The resolution proposes preparations for this negotiations begin to be prepared in September, in order to start in the year 2000. 

The countries of the South American Mercosur bloc (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay) also celebrated the exclusion of a paragraph critical of regional accords from the document.  

The final declarations will not contain any paragraph related to the regional groups frequently questioned by WTO director general, Renato Ruggiero, who considers them contrary to the liberal spirit of multilateralism. 

In his opening speech, Ruggiero showed concern over the effects of the Asian crisis and warned the countries with current account problems not to fall back on protectionism in order to try and get over the problems. 

In a meeting with representatives of non governmental organisations, Ruggiero said they should "no longer speak of trade liberalisation, but of world interdependence."  

The international trade system will commit an error if it overlooks questions like that of protecting the environment, social conditions, employment, public health or cultural diversity, said the WTO director.  

"They are global problems which require global solutions," he stated, inviting the NGOs to talks in order to determine a framework for future dialogue between the institution and the independent civic groups.  

Ruggiero advised NGO leaders to be guided by the example of Cuba's President Fidel Castro, who met with him Sunday. 

"Castro impressed me with the modesty he showed when he said he wanted to hear the speeches of the leaders" who will be speaking in the session to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the WTO on Tuesday.  

Castro stated he "had much to learn from the others," said Ruggiero. A summary of the final declaration of the conference to be adopted by the ministers shows an apparent imbalance against the developing nations, forced into facing further opening up of their economies without having received the benefits of liberalisation.  

However, secretary general of the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), Rubens Ricupero, warned diplomats from developing countries two weeks ago over the limited scope of the resolutions adopted by the ministers.

Ricupero, used his experience in the Brazilian cabinet to observe that ministers are the officials traditionally most permeable to international political pressures.  

Meanwhile, the trade negotiators representing the countries in the WTO general council - and who will finally decide on the future of negotiations in September - work on more technical bases, he said.  

At a press luncheon briefing Tuesday, India's ambassador, S.Narayanan said while individual negotiating styles might differ, developing countries by and large, had a common or similar position on priority for implementation and issues and problems arising out of implementation.  

While in the beginning, the industrial nations said there should be 'full and faithful' implementation, and problems resolved through dispute settlement process, gradually they had come to appreciate the difficulties of the developing countries and were now ready to look at them. 

But from now through the preparatory process, developing countries, individually and collectively had to formulate their problems and views. Some could be simply technical, but others could be substantive -- such as the contradictions between the desire of countries to develop their auto-industries and the TRIMs rules.  

The developing countries over the last few weeks had been explaining how their expectations on the ATC process, and their understanding of the hopes held out during the Uruguay Round, had not been borne out. Again, developing countries had thought that the stringent rules of the anti-dumping agreement would benefit them, but had now found that these stringent provisions had not deterred industrial countries from repeatedly taking actions against developing countries. 

And while the agenda of the preparatory process included any outcomes of the Singapore agenda of studies, on which there was no agreement to negotiate, the ministerial text made clear that this could be taken up only on basis of consensus. The same applied to other matters proposed by any member. 

There was also a final paragraph calling for an overall balance of interests, the Indian envoy added.