Opposition to commencing talks on the so called Singapore issues -- investment, competition, trade facilitation and transparency in government procurement -- remains strong among many WTO Members as the date for the Cancun Ministerial Conference draws near. An informal Heads of Delegation (HOD) consultation on 15 August failed to bridge Members' sharply polarised positions. General Council Chair Ambassador Carlos Perez del Castillo (Uruguay) said work on modalities on the Singapore issues had to be moved to the General Council level, as the Working Groups had not touched on this issue. He added that their mandate was to "develop modalities for the consideration of the Ministers". Acknowledging the need to develop substantive and not just procedural modalities, he tried to guide the session into a discussion of the specific modalities of each issue. The discussions were reportedly politically charged -- especially those on investment. There was little agreement on the substance of each issue, nor on how to treat the issues in general.

While demandeurs of talks, including the EU and Japan, consider the Doha mandate to imply that negotiations will to start after Cancun and a decision on modalities has to be taken, many other Members disagree. More consultations by the Chair, with the "Friends of the Chair," are set to follow.

African countries oppose negotiations

Also at the 15 August HOD meeting, Kenya, on behalf of eleven African countries (Benin, Botswana, Kenya, Mauritius, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe) presented a paper outlining their position on a decision on the Singapore issues. The paper also contains the countries' proposed text on these issues, to be included in the draft Cancun Ministerial text (see WT/GC/W/510, searchable at http://docsonline.wto.org). The submission clearly indicates the unwillingness of these countries to begin negotiations on the Singapore issues, reflecting the views of a larger group of developing and least-developed countries including the African, Caribbean and Pacific group as well as India, Egypt, Pakistan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Cuba, Venezuela and Bangladesh (see BRIDGES Weekly, 17 July 2003). Many of these countries supported the Kenyan paper at the HOD meeting.

The paper also follows the line taken on these issues in an ACP ministerial "Declaration on the Fifth Ministerial Conference of the WTO," adopted in Brussels on 1 August as well as the declaration from an African Union meeting in Mauritius on 20 June and the Dhaka Declaration adopted at the Second LDC Trade Ministers' Meeting at the beginning of June. The text notes the "peculiar aspects and complexities" of each Singapore issue and that WTO Members "...had not reached a common multilateral context."

Recognising the concerns of many developing countries about the potential serious implications of these issues on their economies, the African paper goes on to add that "the benefits of negotiating a multilateral framework for each of these issues is not evident to them." It further notes that "many developing countries have scarce resources and limited capacity to meaningfully negotiate these issues, especially as they grapple with implementation of existing WTO rules and the expanded work programme after the Doha Ministerial Conference." Consequently "...the situation did not provide a basis for commencement of negotiations in these areas" and called for a continuation of the clarification exercise on these issues in their respective working groups. The paper is indicative of the concerns of most African countries, as well as many other developing countries, about the unclear development implications of these issues apart from the strain put on their existing negotiating and implementing capacities.

Thailand, Chile, link investment and agriculture talks

While developing countries have not officially linked agreement to negotiate the Singapore issues -- individually or as a group -- to progress in other negotiating bodies, many trade sources have pointed to the link (see BRIDGES Weekly, 28 July 2003). Reportedly, Cairns group members Thailand and Chile made the link between investment and agriculture at the informal HOD meeting of August 15. According to sources, they indicated their willingness to open negotiations on investment provided there was progress on agriculture. South Africa stressed that Ministers at Doha had deliberately sequenced negotiations in order to ensure that developing countries' issues were addressed first. Therefore agreement on implementation issues, S&D, TRIPS and public health, agriculture, non-agricultural market access should come first and only then on Singapore issues.

EC, Japan prepare draft texts on modalities

According to trade sources, the EC and Japan have prepared draft texts on the modalities of the Singapore issues, which however have not yet been submitted to the WTO. These texts place the Singapore issues within the single undertaking and set a 1 January 2005 deadline for completing negotiations. The texts reportedly include 'organisation and management' among the procedural elements for modalities. On substance, the Japan text states that the review and clarification work carried out so far forms the basis for the negotiations.

The EU and Japanese texts consider the issues listed in the Doha Declaration and their subsequent clarification as sufficient to constitute substantive modalities. This is not a view shared by many developing countries, who want to see a sufficient degree of convergence and clarification on the substantive aspects of the issues themselves, as well as additional aspects, before taking a potential decision on modalities. Both the Japan and EU texts reiterate their commitment to technical assistance and capacity building during and after the negotiations, and the EU paper also reportedly states that the negotiations "shall" take fully into account the principle of special and differential treatment for developing and least developed countries.

ICTSD reporting; "WTO Members Remain Polarised On Singapore Issues", THIRD WORLD NETWORK, 17 August 2003; "EC AND Japan's New Draft Texts On Singapore Issues Modalities For Cancun", THIRD WORLD NETWORK, 6 August 2003.