The Hindu Business Line : War of coded words in the ongoing trade game

WITH only a week to go, the WTO Ministerial is much in the news. For instance, http://news.xinhuanet.com reports that despite anti-globalisation groups' warning to stage demonstrations, "Hong Kong is gearing up to hold a ministerial meeting of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) coming on December 13." It will be the first time for Hong Kong, an `orderly global financial capital' to deal with so many international protesters, notes www.businessweek.com, and hopes that most protesters will pursue their diverse causes "in more peaceful, creative ways, such as street theatre or workshops."

WTO chief Mr Pascal Lamy is worried that negotiators are only about 55 per cent of the way toward a deal after four years of talks, reports www.forbes.com. If the meeting of Ministers from nearly 150 countries goes well "there is a real prospect that the living standards of literally millions of people around the world will be raised," wishes www.stuff.co.nz. "Spurred on by its powerful farmers and eager to make its name as a diplomatic heavyweight, Brazil has championed developing nations for the last two years in the Doha round of trade talks," observes http://today.reuters.com.

Potential stumbling blocks are `agricultural reform, intellectual property rights, particularly for medicines,' opines http://edition.cnn.com.

Ministerial means `relating to a minister or ministers', but what is Ministerial Conference? It is the topmost decision-making body of the WTO, and it has to meet at least every two years, as required by the Marrakesh Agreement — the WTO's founding charter, informs www.wto.org. The Conference brings together all members of the WTO. "The Ministerial Conference can take decisions on all matters under any of the multilateral trade agreements."

That accounts for the many expectations in the air. For example, the No Taxes on Drugs and Devices Initiative (NtDDi) prays, through a posting on http://sev.prnewswire.com, that developing countries took concrete steps in Hong Kong to liberalise their healthcare sectors. Pakistan wants to raise issues related to agriculture, Non Agricultural Market Access (NAMA) and trade, informs www.onlinenews.com.pk.

The Hong Kong meet is the sixth Ministerial Conference, a.k.a. MC6. Earlier ones were: Cancún (2003), Doha (2001), Seattle (1999), Geneva (1998) and Singapore (1996). `Day 5: Conference ends without consensus, 14 September 2003,' notes a page titled `The Fifth WTO Ministerial Conference' on www.wto.org. The Cancún Ministerial Conference ended after Chairperson Luis Ernesto Derbez concluded that despite considerable movement in consultations, members remained entrenched, particularly on the `Singapore Issues', chronicles the WTO.

The Singapore Issues refer to four working groups set up during the WTO Ministerial Conference of 1996 in Singapore, which consist of investment protection, competition policy, transparency in government procurement and trade facilitation, explains www.bulatlat.com. "Most developing countries were unconvinced of the necessity of negotiating multilateral rules on these issues, which they see as being of primary interest to developed countries," it adds.

`Doha Development Agenda' is another phrase of importance, and it refers to what was launched at the Fourth Ministerial held in 2001, and lay unfinished at the end of the subsequent Ministerial. "The completion of the Doha Agenda is being promoted by the WTO and its supporters as necessary to enable the multilateral trading system to work for the poorest countries. But past experience has shown that the WTO's major agreements have merely served to strengthen the monopoly power of the world's largest corporations, many of which are based in the US," fears Bulatlat. The WTO belongs to its members, and it is a consensus-based organisation, states www.wto.org. "The countries make their decisions through various councils and committees, whose membership consists of all WTO members. At the top or first level is the Ministerial Conference. General Council is at the second level, to look after `day-to-day work in between the Ministerial Conferences'. Depending upon the terms of reference, the General Council takes on two other guises too, viz. the Dispute Settlement Body and the Trade Policy Review Body. All the three report to the Ministerial Conference. "The Dispute Settlement Body also has two subsidiaries: the dispute settlement `panels' of experts appointed to adjudicate on unresolved disputes, and the Appellate Body that deals with appeals," informs the WTO's site.

At the next level of hierarchy are three councils, viz. the Council for Trade in Goods a.k.a. Goods Council, the Council for Trade in Services (Services Council), and the Council for Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights or TRIPS Council. These bodies report to the General Council. The Goods Council has 11 subsidiary bodies or committees to deal with the nitty-gritty of specific subjects "such as agriculture, market access, subsidies, anti-dumping measures and so on." Textiles Monitoring Body also reports to the Goods Council. Subsidiary bodies of the Services Council look at "financial services, domestic regulations, GATS rules and specific commitments". There are also `plurilaterals' such as on `information technology agreement', `trade in civil aircraft', and `government procurement'. WTO organisation chart sums up the layers graphically. Success in formal meetings depends on informal consultations, because the WTO decisions are made `by consensus, without voting'. Voting has its place in four specific situations. One such situation provides that "the Ministerial Conference can waive an obligation imposed on a particular member by a multilateral agreement, also through a three-quarters majority," as WTO explains.

Arriving at consensus is where the meeting of HOD or Heads of Delegations has a role. For instance, www.chinapost.com.tw reports that at a meeting of the heads of delegations of WTO member states to express their views about the draft text, "Sun Zhenyu, permanent representative of the Chinese delegation to the WTO, said that newcomers to the WTO had made commitments and contributions in their accession to the organization and that therefore, the draft ministerial text should include a statement that these newcomers should be given more flexible treatment." Heads meet in many places. For instance, early November saw a number of Ministers meet in London "in what was probably the first cross-cutting discussion at that level, moving beyond the issue of Agriculture to the rest of the negotiating agenda," as Mr Lamy is cited on www.nbr.co.nz. Many informal meetings have been held between ministers over the past months but differences on issues like agriculture are yet to be bridged, notes the days report on www.chinadaily.com.cn; expectations for the outcome of the forthcoming Ministerial have therefore been lowered, adds the report.

"Lamy released a comprehensive draft Hong Kong Ministerial Declaration text to Members at a short meeting of the Trade Negotiations Committee (TNC) on November 26," reports www.ictsd.org. "Negotiators have since been discussing potential modifications to the text almost non-stop, in a series of `green room' meetings involving Mr Lamy and representatives from 25-30 delegations, as well as in a November 30 meeting of the TNC." It seems that the draft's annexes on `agriculture, non-agricultural market access (NAMA), and special and differential treatment (S&D)' are `particularly contentious'. But what is `green room'?

The `informal' phrase refers to the director-general's conference room, says www.wto.org. There, 20-40 delegations meet, at the behest of a committee chairperson or the director-general. "In the past delegations have sometimes felt that Green Room meetings could lead to compromises being struck behind their backs," alerts the WTO. "So, extra efforts are made to ensure that the process is handled correctly, with regular reports back to the full membership."

Catch up with more colours in an interesting article titled `Breaking through the WTO language barrier' on www.farmandranchguide.com, which explores the meaning of "green boxes, amber boxes and the newly created blue boxes, plus decoupling and even dirty decoupling, to name just a few." A war of coded words in the ongoing trade game.

For nations heading to MC6, however, language may well be less bothersome as a barrier compared to their anxiety to protect national economic and political interests.

ZeroBase@TheHindu.co.in

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page