India, China Cross Fence to Support Doha Agenda

· Wants Way Forward on Market Access, Agri, TRIPS

· TPP Challenges WTO Authority, Developing Countries Seek Refuge in WTO

The Nairobi ministerial conference is scheduled for 15-18 December, leaving little time remaining to sort out remaining differences in Geneva before officials board planes for the Kenyan capital.

Draft declaration

On Friday 27 November, the three WTO ambassadors acting as “facilitators” in drafting the ministerial declaration - Gabriel Duque of Colombia, Harald Neple of Norway, and Stephen Karau of Kenya - released a draft consolidated document for members to review.

Deliverables for Nairobi

Under Part 2, the document includes bracketed text for whichever decisions may be adopted at the ministerial, referring specifically to non-violation and situation complaints under the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement, the WTO’s work programme on e-commerce, and the work programme on small economies.

In italics and in brackets is a placeholder for any other decision to be inserted into that section of the document.

Doha, future work

Given the difficult nature of how exactly to address the future of the Doha Round and how to address new issues, the consolidated facilitators’ draft makes clear that it does not aim to tackle these “most contentious issues identified by members.”

Another area that they specifically did not aim to address in the document, they said, involved “security exceptions,” given the deep divides in that area.

Rather, the third and final section of the facilitators’ consolidated draft includes a reference to the advances made in the Doha talks so far, together with regret that agreements in all negotiating areas have not been reached. Addressing agriculture reform will be addressed as a priority, it says.

Other paragraphs in that section feature a mention of “principles of Special and Differential Treatment and Less Than Full Reciprocity for developing and least-developed country members,” saying that these must play “integral parts”.

Lastly, it includes language regarding regional trade deals, reaffirming that these should “remain complementary to, not a substitute for, the multilateral trading system.”

India, China, Indonesia, South Africa Want Doha Para 23 of Draft

One of these proposals was made jointly by China, Ecuador, India, Indonesia, South Africa, and Venezuela, who asked for the insertion of a paragraph in the preamble reaffirming the Doha Development Agenda (DDA) and decisions and declarations adopted both in the Qatari capital 14 years ago and at subsequent ministerial meetings.

These members have also asked that the same paragraph be inserted in Part 3, on future work. Should these paragraphs be added in brackets, they said, the 23rd paragraph in the facilitators’ document – which welcomes any Doha-related advances and expresses regret at the failure to reach outcomes in all negotiating areas – should also be bracketed.

Paragraph 23 specifically reads as follows: “We welcome the advances made in the Doha Development Agenda. We regret that it has not been possible to reach agreement on all areas of the negotiations, including Agriculture, NAMA, Services, Rules, including fisheries subsidies, and TRIPS. In particular, we note the importance of agriculture to many WTO Members, including LDCs. We will therefore address all aspects of agriculture reform as a matter of priority.”

African Group

The African Group, for its part, has also tabled its own suggested addition to the preamble and Part 3, which like the proposal by China and others includes reaffirming the DDA and all ministerial decisions and declarations since the launch of the Round. It also refers to the decision adopted by the General Council on 1 August 2004, which relates to the Doha agenda work programme.

Korea

Alternatives to paragraph 23 of the facilitators’ text have also been suggested by Korea, which features three paragraphs which would instead note the difficulties in reconciling members’ disagreements on Doha. These paragraphs also would instruct officials “to continue deliberations” on next steps in addressing the unresolved issues from the Round, in order to decide on a “way forward” by the end of next year.

It also features language on addressing “any trade-related issues deemed necessary in order to stay relevant and in keeping with the evolution of the global economy,” while noting that these could be pursued “at least on an exploratory basis,” so long as they do not get in the way of addressing current, unresolved issues.