GENEVA, (Internet): Senior officials from a newly-constituted Group of Twelve (G12) countries under the auspices of the United States failed to make progress due to unbridgeable differences over the anti-concentration proposal demanded by the US, the European Union, Japan and Canada, trade negotiators said.
The anti-concentration proposal aims to severely restrict the flexibilities for developing countries in deciding which sensitive industrial products can be designated for reduced tariff cuts. The US, the EU, Japan and Canada insisted that there must be a trigger for determining which tariff lines in harmonised system (HS) classification will be eligible for the treatment of sensitive products.
During two rounds of talks at the US mission last Monday and Tuesday, sharp differences came to the fore over a range of problems in the latest non-agriculture market access (NAMA) draft text, particularly the anti-concentration provision as well as flexibilities for developing countries who are members of the customs union.
Besides, India, South Africa and Brazil have flatly opposed attempts by the US to convert the G12 into a negotiating body, trade negotiators said, suggesting that the new group cannot be anything more than a consultative mechanism to share ideas.
Apart from the US, the G12 bloc also includes India, China, the EU, Japan and Brazil, among others.
Meanwhile, World Trade Organisation (WTO) chief Pascal Lamy sought to know from the trade envoys of the US, the EU, Brazil and India about the progress at the G12 meetings, sources told newsmen.
Apparently, the four countries offered their individual assessment on where things stood at this juncture, indicating that they are not expecting any progress soon.
Last week, EU trade commissioner Peter Mandelson told reporters in Paris that the G12 meetings would be "a litmus text" for the progress or lack of it in the Doha trade negotiations. But new demands by the EU and the US are taking the G12 meetings backwards, negotiators from developing countries said.
During the marathon meeting at the US mission, trade officials/envoys of the G12 countries discussed only two issues relating to the flexibilities sought by South Africa for its Southern African Customs Union members and the anti-concentration proposal.
The so-called middle group countries - Malaysia, Mexico and Pakistan - which had supported the industrialised countries on the coefficient ranges in the latest NAMA draft text, joined the NAMA-11 bloc in opposing the anti-concentration provision.
The developing countries firmly reminded the industrialised countries not to raise the anti-concentration provision, warning that they would oppose the innumerable flexibilities that are provided to the EU, Japan, Canada and the US in the treatment of sensitive farm products.
The industrialised countries pleaded that they need this provision to be included to satisfy their domestic constituencies, pointing that if they cannot agree to their current proposal on the table they will suggest "a second best option".
But Namibia's trade representative Ben Katijupka said "when the G12 is not a negotiating body, why is the director general interested in its progress," suggesting that fresh attempts are being made to negotiate among the 12 for the entire membership.
The US, the EU, Japan and Canada quizzed South Africa over the specific flexibilities it sought because of the Southern African Customs Union.
