WTO confce starts with call to bridge gaps

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Asjadul Kibria | Published: December 16, 2015 00:00:00 | Updated: December 16, 2015 00:15:54

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NAIROBI, Dec 15: With a call to flexibility in talks for making a deal in multilateral trade regime, the 10th Ministerial Conference (MC10) of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) formally started in Kenya on Tuesday afternoon.
President of Kenya Mr Uhuru Kenyatta formally announced the opening of the conference in the Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC) in Nairobi.   
Ms Amina Mohamed, Kenyan cabinet secretary of foreign affairs and trade and the conference chairperson, urged members and all relevant stakeholders to engage constructively for bridging gaps in the negotiations.
"Members have to show some flexibility from their own positions for an outcome," she said.
In a similar vein, WTO Director General Mr Roberto Azevedo said to succeed all members 'will have to be flexible, realistic and ready to engage.'
The conference starts with huge differences among the members, and next three days will be crucial to find a common zone for minimum deal.
Mr Abdul Matlub Ahmad, President of Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industries (FBCCI), observed that there is little chance to reach a deal.
"Differences are lot and it will be really difficult to get something finally," he told FE on Tuesday just before the opening session.
"We, however, are expecting a positive outcome, which will be beneficial for all. In fact, any outcome will have significant implications for businessmen directly."
The FBCCI head is a member of the Bangladesh delegation in the ministerial conference.
Commerce Minister Mr Tofayel Ahmed is leading the 23-member team. He is also the coordinator of the LDC-group in WTO. He will speak on Wednesday morning at a plenary session.
Mr Mahabubur Rahman, president of the Bangladesh chapter of International Chamber of Commerce (ICCB), believes that Bangladesh has successfully placed its major demands of effective market access, relaxation in rules of origin, and waiver in service trade.
"We have to wait to see what finally comes out," he told FE.  
In the opening session, the chairperson formally proposed adoption of the conference agenda. These agenda will be formally discussed in different sessions in the next three days, but trade negotiators will be busy in making a deal for global trade.
Mr Arun Goyal, director of New Delhi-based Academy of Business Studies, however, opined that the developing and least developed countries have to make some compromise with the developed countries for reaching a deal.
"There are lots of differences and there are lots of scopes for compromise. Otherwise, the developed countries will go on with their own undermining multilateral trade regime."
In this connection, he mentioned TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership) and TTIP (Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership) deals, where the United States and the European Union have the final say in global trade.
Meanwhile, the least developed countries (LDCs) gave a strong consensus message for driving the Doha Development Agenda into a successful conclusion and not dragging in newer issues to forestall it.
The trade ministers of the LDCs in a meeting on Monday forged this position, which is reflected in the 'LDC Ministerial Declaration', released after the meeting, ahead of the global trade talks.
Such common stance in the poor-country club is seen as a kind of blow to a move by the developed countries, headed by the US, the EU and Japan, to do away with the Doha round of world trade negotiations.
The WTO members are negotiating for 14 years under the Doha Development Agenda (DDA) for opening new markets and liberalising trade in agriculture, industrial products and services with setting the rules of world trade.
But, the developed countries are now pressing for discontinuation of Doha negotiation, while the developing and LDCs want to continue the round for successful completion. There is also difference among the countries on introducing new issues like labour and environment in the multilateral trade regime.
Tofail Ahmed presided over the LDC ministerial meeting just before the day of inauguration of the 10th Ministerial Conference (MC10). Bangladesh is the coordinator of the LDC group in WTO.
WTO Director General Roberto Azevedo was also present at the meeting as guest of honour.     
"We urge all WTO members to redouble their efforts towards the full, successful and multilateral conclusion of the negotiations pursuant to paragraphs 45, 47 and 48 of the Doha Ministerial Declaration in fulfilment of the commitments undertaken at Doha," says the declaration.
"We emphasise that without successful conclusion of the DDA any new issue must not be introduced," the group further stated clearly.
The developed countries are also pursuing for introduction of so-called 21st-century issues like labour and environmental standards, e-commerce, environmental and sustainable goods produced from clean and green energy and transparency in government procurement.
But the developing countries, headed by China, India and Indonesia, are opposing both discontinuation of the Doha round of negations and introduction of new issues at Nairobi ministerial. Now, LDCs have joined hands with the developing countries.  
Mr Tofail Ahmed said the LDCs agreed on continuation of Doha negotiations as well as on the point of not introducing new issues.
"There should not be any new agenda unless the WTO has successfully finished ongoing negotiations."  "LDCs' position is now united and clear. All the agreed decisions on trade interests of the LDCs have to be implemented."
In fact, Bangladesh worked hard to minimise differences among the LDCs on trade interests.  It appears from the declaration that Bangladesh has succeeded in sinking the rifts to a greater extent, although not fully.
The main difference is on the demand for ensuring duty-free quota-free (DFQF) market access for all the LDCs. Some African LDCs had clear reservation over implementing 100 per cent DFQF market access.
Lesotho is in apprehension of losing its market share in textiles and clothing to Bangladesh and Cambodia. Haiti also made some reservations. In the LDC trade ministers' meeting, Senegal favoured 97 per cent DFQF access. Two non-LDCs, Kenya and Mauritius, also hold similar reservation.  
The US market is virtually the only developed-country market where Bangladesh, Nepal and Cambodia have yet to get 100 per cent DFQF. The US is denying the access on the plea that the Hong Kong ministerial declaration obliged them for 97 per cent, not 100 per cent.
In this connection, Mr Ahmed said: "This is not acceptable and that's why we have demanded commercially meaningful market access."
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