Warming up for Cancun
Arab countries are seeking a more balanced international trade system. Dina Ezzat reports
With only a few weeks to go before the convocation of the 5th Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in Cancun, Mexico on 10 September, representatives of a number of Arab countries met in Beirut late last week to exchange views on how to cater for their interests and analyse the potential benefits and drawbacks stemming from the conference.
The two-day Arab ministerial meeting in preparation for the Cancun meeting was organised by the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) and the Arab League in coordination with the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).
Attending the meeting were various Arab ministers, senior representatives of concerned regional and international organisations, and non-governmental organisations. In addition to the presence of the WTO itself, participating organisations included the World Intellectual Property Organisation, General Union of Chambers of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture for Arab countries and the Arab Monetary Fund. Topping the agenda for participants was the issue of putting more equilibrium into an unbalanced international trade system. "Putting a human face to world trade is what we need to achieve," asserted Mervat El-Tellawi the ESCWA executive secretary-general.
The Beirut meeting emphasised the need for a long overdue implementation on the part of the developed countries to honour their 1994 Uruguay Round obligations both in letter and spirit in return for the concessions made by the developing countries.
The balance that developing countries expected to occur in the international trade system as a result of the Uruguay Round agreements did not materialise as a result of the way in which these agreements were implemented. "Introducing balance into the international trade system should be the first priority of Arab and other developing countries in the upcoming Cancun meeting and beyond," said Hesham Youssef, personal representative of Arab League secretary-general to the Beirut meeting. He added, "actually, with a few exceptions the share of many developing countries has declined in the last two decades or more international trade. This situation has to be rectified."
For this to happen, developing and developed countries have to come to agreement on issues such as facilitating market access for goods and services of interest to developing countries, the provision of technical assistance and reducing the protectionist attitudes and measures in many developed countries targeting exports by developing countries, particularly agricultural products, agro-industries, textiles and others. The Doha Development Work Programme agreed to at the fourth ministerial WTO conference in Doha, in November 2001, was supposed to contribute to achieving this objective. However, today delegations are still struggling to achieve results but progress has so far been insignificant, if any was made at all. Consequently, the imbalance of the multilateral trade system persists.
With this in mind, participants in the Beirut meeting dealt with a host of issues centred on assessing any progress on the Doha agenda and expectations of the Cancun meeting. Delegates seemed to agree that nothing much should be expected from upcoming Cancun conference.
A paper presented by Mohamed Radwan, the ESCWA international trade desk officer, suggested that in view of the reluctance of developed countries to ease their protectionist policies little progress is expected on offering developing countries better access to the markets of Europe, North America and Northeast Asia. Moreover, Radwan argued in his paper titled From Doha to Cancun, the attitude of developed countries does not indicate a serious will to implement the commitments in favour of developing countries in the Uruguay Round and the developing countries are only to be expected to encounter more problems in integrating their national economies into the global economy.
Like other participants in the Beirut meeting, Radwan voiced concern over the failure of developing countries to increase their share of agricultural exports when their potential for industrial exports is meagre. Radwan also expressed concern over the impact of disagreements among developed countries on a coherent policy towards developing countries.
According to WTO sources in Geneva, the unending debate between the US and Canada on the one hand and the European Union on the other hand over agriculture is bound to be a serious problem confronting delegates in Mexico early next September. Sources suggest that the WTO has pleaded with these countries to settle their agricultural dispute before the inauguration of the Cancun conference.
To help settle this and other similar differences, the Canadian government invited 25 ministers, in a mini-ministerial meeting, with participatns representing a cross- section of the WTO membership. Expectations for the outcome of this meeting, which took place in Montreal from 28-30 July, were not particularly high. WTO sources admitted that there are some tough impasses. However, the objective is to open discussion on the disagreements now so as to smooth the road for Cancun.
Meanwhile, trade representatives from developing countries are suggesting that concord is likely to remain elusive in Cancun particularly in relation to agricultural exports and the property rights of pharmaceuticals. The Doha agenda has recommended negotiations to settle the problems of countries with complaints related to compulsory licensing. But little, if any, progress has been achieved. With participants in Beirut indicating roughly similar concerns, there was a consensus on the need for inter-Arab coordination. In the WTO, what you have is what we call like-minded countries which are countries with similar objectives and concerns, Youssef argued. He added that not all Arab countries are like-minded, obviously, but they do share common concerns and priorities which necessitate coordination.
Currently there are 11 Arab WTO members: Egypt, Mauritania, Morocco, Djibouti, Tunisia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Jordan, Oman and the United Arab Emirates.
Exchange of vie among Arab states is essential, argued Saleh El-Saleh, Bahraini minister of trade. This cooperation is especially welcome to those Arab states currently negotiating for WTO membership. Syria, according to Minister of Economy and Trade Ghassan Al-Riffai is planning to present its request for WTO membership in the Cancun conference, and has received Arab assistance on this front.
Egyptian Minister of Foreign Trade Youssef Boutros-Ghali, who headed the Egyptian delegation to the Beirut meeting, expressed Egypt's willingness to provide assistance to all Arab countries negotiating membership with the WTO. In addition to Syria, the other Arab countries applying for membership with the WTO are Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Algeria, Sudan and Yemen.
The Arab League, Arab trade diplomats argue, should establish a WTO coordination mechanism.
