WTO In Brief

DEMANDEURS LOOK FOR GREATER MOMENTUM ON SERVICES

WTO services negotiators are scheduled to have a two-week 'cluster' of meetings from 16 April. Members seeking new formally-bound market opportunities for their service providers in the Doha Round negotiations are hoping that this cluster can build on the high-level political discussions in the series of 'enchilada' talks convened by services Chair Ambassador Fernando de Mateo over the last several weeks.

These 'demandeur' countries are intent on moving away from the 'informal' nature of recent clusters, and want to go into formal negotiating mode. Sources say that the upcoming cluster will probably be an effort to lend substance and momentum to the services talks, which are seen as 'losing steam' in spite of the efforts of de Mateo and a number of key demandeurs.

Demandeurs are asking their trading partners to bring in capital-based services experts and regulators for the bilateral and plurilateral negotiations planned for the two-week cluster. Countries such as Canada have been at the forefront of trying to maintain the prominence of the plurilateral approach to the market access negotiations, in which a group of countries collectively request liberalisation commitments from another group of Members. Meanwhile, the US has indicated in various small-group consultations with trading partners that it intends to focus on bilateral negotiations during the upcoming cluster.

Other WTO Members, however, have been reluctant to change their stance on services in the absence of progress in the more contentious negotiations on agriculture and non-agricultural market access (NAMA). Sources indicate that they are keen to see the outcome of the 'green room' discussions on the latter two issues that were set to take place the evening of 4 April. These discussions, to which WTO-Director General Pascal Lamy invites ambassadors representing about two dozen countries and negotiating alliances, come on the heels of a meeting in Paris of senior officials from the EU, the US, Brazil, and India - the so-called G-4. Some diplomats are looking to the meeting for indications of whether the Doha talks are likely to proceed to a successful conclusion or get stalled indefinitely.

ICTSD reporting.

COMMITTEE ON TRADE AND DEVELOPMENT DISCUSSES AID FOR TRADE

Progress on the WTO's Aid for Trade initiative was on the agenda at the 2 April meeting of the Committee on Trade and Development.

The WTO Secretariat presented its work plan for the upcoming months, which will include three regional Aid for Trade reviews. These reviews will examine selected case studies incorporating views from recipient countries, the donor community, and the private sector.

Sources report that there is a growing consensus on the role of the Committee on Trade and Development (CTD) in the WTO's work on trade-related assistance: it could become a sort of 'Aid for Trade forum' where work plans, comments, complaints and ideas would be debated.

At the same meeting, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) made a presentation on its findings for a potential Aid for Trade reporting mechanism, following a recent session of its Technical Working Group on the Monitoring Framework on Aid for Trade.

The discussion revolved around the OECD's current reporting system for development assistance, and how it should be revamped to fit the needs of the WTO's Aid for Trade initiative. Delegates recognised that modifications would in any case require an agreement on the scope and limits of what constitutes Aid for Trade, which has not yet been reached. One source noted that a monitoring and evaluation system would need a far more detailed definition than the very broad one present in the Aid for Trade Task Force's report.

The CTD meeting followed the recent creation of an advisory group on Aid for Trade at the WTO (see BRIDGES Weekly, 28 March 2007).

Elsewhere, the Conference of African Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, which took place in Addis Ababa from 29 March-1 April, described Aid for Trade as central to their countries' efforts to deal with trade-related challenges and opportunities.

ICTSD reporting.

CTE: CANADA SUGGESTS 'MIDDLE GROUND' APPROACH ON MEA OBSERVER STATUS

WTO Members appear to remain divided on precisely what they are mandated to do in Doha Round negotiations on the relationship between multilateral environmental agreement (MEA) secretariats and the WTO. A 30 March informal meeting of the Committee on Trade and Environment-Special Session (CTE-SS) saw Canada submit a 'non-paper' (JOB (07)/38) in an attempt to bridge the principal gaps.

Paragraph 31 (ii) of the Doha Declaration mandates Members to negotiate granting observer status to MEA secretariats, as well as the less contentious issue of setting out procedures for information exchange between them and relevant WTO committees.

The US argues that this only provides for Members to determine the criteria for granting observer status. It is believed to be supported by developing countries such as Argentina, Brazil, Egypt, and India. The EU wants countries to decide on which 'core' MEAs should receive observer status.

Canada describes its position as a middle-ground: it concurs with the view that the CTE-SS's role is limited to developing criteria for observership, and that issue of observer status in the WTO rests exclusively with the General Council, the institution's top permanent decision-making body. However, it also agreed with the EU that certain 'core' MEAs that had participated in past informal information exchange be immediately granted observer status (i.e. also for the remainder of Doha negotiations), following written requests from each MEA secretariat. Canada's informal paper also added to past suggestions for 'indicative' questions that could aid WTO bodies in making 'reasoned' decisions on observership on a case-by-case basis, such as "Is the MEA's work relevant to the WTO body's work and vice-versa?"

Canada also suggested that WTO bodies that entertain observership requests would include the Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade, the Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures, the Committee on Trade and Development, the TRIPS Council, and the Committee on Agriculture.

According to trade sources, Canada promised to come up with an official submission in time for the formal CTE-SS scheduled for 3-4 May.

ICTSD reporting.