The Hindu Business Line : Doha Round

If marathon is an euphemism for a long run, the Doha Round of multilateral trade talks could be for negotiations that go on and on without any end in sight. The latest conclave in New Delhi, graced by developed countries such as Australia, Japan, the European Union (EU), the United States and emerging economies including Brazil and host India, ended on the note that the meeting "inaugurates a new phase of our discussions".

A terse Ministerial Communiqué of G-6 Trade Ministers proclaimed that "by intensifying our work, we can reach convergence and thus contribute to concluding the Round by the end of 2007." It may be trite to state that the Doha Round, begun in 2001 in the Qatari capital, has missed too many deadlines to be counted with developed and developing countries caught in an intractable dispute on opening up trade in agriculture, industrial goods and services.

The Contentious issues

Developing countries have been insisting that the rich nations slash the massive farm subsidies they dole out to minimise the trade distortions for farm products in global markets so that the terms of trade for developing country farm exporters would be reasonably favourable. Developed countries counter this with demands of greater market access for their goods and services and by asking the developing nations to cut steeply the tariffs on industrial goods. The rich also want the services market opened — a move that would affect the Customs revenue greatly and put paid to the developing nations' fledgling services sector that is finding its feet in the global arena.

As the Doha Round is six years old, there was general consensus among the G-6 members that they should strive hard to contribute to "concluding the Round by the end of 2007" and the Commerce Minister, Mr Kamal Nath, rightly said that, "the effort was not to make any dramatic breakthrough but to assess where we are and where we are going."

The US Trade Representative, Ms Susan Schwab, cautioned that, "No single country can provide a breakthrough. We all have a collective responsibility." The EU Trade Commissioner, Mr. Peter Mandelson, remarked that, "we have forged a very clear understanding to conclude this Round by the end of 2007. That is why we need to speed up."

Larger aspect

Even as the leaders resolved to speed up the process of consultations by proposing yet another G-4 meeting in May to "put numbers on the table" and get "everybody to show their cards" in terms of specific concessions, the G-4 and G-6 cannot arrogate to themselves the responsibility for the larger membership of the World Trade Organisation that represents 150 countries.

Conscious of this fact the G-6 communiqué pointed out that it is "prepared to intensify our engagement in parallel to the multilateral negotiating group process in Geneva. We will work with the Director General, the Chairs of the Negotiating Groups, the Chair of the General Council and the entire WTO membership in the best interests of completing the Round in the time envisaged."

Implicit in this statement is the recognition that G-4 or G-6 could be no more than a best-endeavour club and unless the players resolve among themselves their differences, they would not be able to convince the other members of the WTO about the virtue of free and fair trade and their role in ending poverty and promoting development across the world.

No wonder, the IMF Chief, Mr Rodrigo Rato, called on Friday for "a breakthrough in global trade talks" and urged the principal players to traverse "an extra mile that is needed for an agreement." The WTO Chief, Mr Pacal Lamy, is scheduled to meet IMF members at the annual spring meeting tomorrow to push what is billed as "a once-in-a-generation" opportunity to bring down barriers to trade and get millions out of poverty through sustaining growth impulses for development. Will sanity and a sense of urgency dawn to deliver results?