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WTO said special and differential treatment is hardly "a panacea if it is interpreted merely as an effort to minimise commitments on the part of the developing countries within the system."

New Delhi , Aug. 14

EVEN as developing countries such as India set store by special and differential (S&D) treatment to mitigate any harsh commitments being imposed on them in the evolving rule-based global trading system exemplified by the World Trade Organisation (WTO), they have to swallow some bitter pills.

This was hinted by the Geneva-based trade monitoring body in the first edition of a new annual publication known as World Trade Report (WTR), launched on Thursday.

In a plain-speaking exercise, WTO said special and differential treatment is hardly "a panacea if it is interpreted merely as an effort to minimise commitments on the part of the developing countries within the system", even while acknowledging that S&D provisions are key to the search for balance, relevance and priority as members seek to define the contribution of the Doha Agenda to development.

"But just as efforts to accept as little as possible by way of commitments offer scant contribution to development, so too will coercive WTO commitments delinked from a properly articulated national economic interest," the WTO report said, adding that S&D treatment provisions should focus on policy design and timing questions, and on aligning contractual commitments in the WTO with development needs and priorities.

The report asked that if "one size does not fit all", how should differentiated needs be accommodated by appropriately differentiated provisions without imparting excessive discretion, either to who have access to S&D or those who make those access decisions. One way of trying to ensure relevance is to design provisions that intrinsically define beneficiaries, through such means as thresholds or triggers, the WTO argued.

In a foreword to the 270-page report, which examines the Doha Development Agenda round of global trade negotiations, the WTO Director-General, Dr Supachai Panitchpakdi, made two key points. First, he said, strong and renewed political commitment is required "if we are to give effect to the promise of Doha". He said while success in moving forward effectively on the Doha agenda would generate new economic opportunities, boost business confidence, failure to advance would deny "us all these things and dent credibility".

Second, he said, as Governments formulate their positions in respect of the many issues on the Doha Agenda, an important pint is that the effective pursuit of national interests requires joint action around shared objectives. "Countries hardly ever obtain everything they want in negotiations, but it is deeply fallacious to see an outcome yielding no results as a better option than one that might require hard work and patience, but offers something to all parties," Dr Supachai said.

Presenting a report on trends in world trade over the previous year, the report said considerable uncertainty clouds trade volume growth prospects for 2003, estimated at less than 3 per cent. The downside risks on predictions for 2003 pertain to "continued sluggishness in the world economy, economic and political instability in West Asia and the unexpected impact of SARS in East Asia". The report dealt with three issues of topical interest in global trade, viz., developments in South-South trade, trends in non-oil commodity markets and the growth of regional trade agreements.

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