EU-Commonwealth Dialogue

20th January 2003
London School of Economics, London

This EU-Commonwealth dialogue featured a keynote address by EU Trade Commissioner, Pascal Lamy. It is available here.

Summary of Discussions

The EU-Commonwealth Dialogue brought together international trade experts and business leaders from the Commonwealth to assess what has been achieved at the World Trade Organisation since the launch of the new round of trade negotiations at Doha in November 2001 and identify the greatest challenges ahead to achieving a successful outcome to the next Ministerial Meeting, which will take place in Cancun later this year.

Without considerable progress before that meeting, there is a risk that global trade liberalisation may be stalled again, as it was after the infamous WTO meeting in Seattle.

This was the first in a series of planned roundtables taking place over the course of the next six months, which will bring together prominent members of the business community with trade negotiators and academics to address how best to achieve the goals of the Doha Development Agenda and how developing country participation in this process can be ensured. The roundtables provide a valuable opportunity for members of these communities to meet outside the negotiating room and to develop a better understanding of each other’s positions.

Participants agreed that WTO Members have set themselves a very ambitious timetable for the talks: all elements of the agreement must be decided before January 2005. Some expressed concern about this demanding timetable, as two deadlines have already been missed. They pointed out that developing countries feel they are being pushed too fast and that they have not had time to develop negotiating positions on certain issues.

These countries are particularly concerned about the ‘new issues’: trade facilitation, transparency in government procurement, competition and investment. Some participants argued that agreements on these issues should not be binding, explaining that implementation of any agreement on government procurement or trade facilitation would be near impossible for many developing economies.

Rich countries pledged funds at Doha for technical assistance to improve developing countries’ ability to define and protect their interests at the WTO. While the funds are small in comparison to overall budgets, it is now up to the developing countries to ‘cash the cheque’ and to demand assistance where they need it.

However, it is clear that technical assistance needs to be carefully coordinated and that fundamental changes are also needed in the way that the WTO works for developing countries to benefit. The issue of how Special and Differential Treatment (SDT) can assist poorer members is a controversial one, with some arguing primarily for greater simplicity and others for greater flexibility.

The Doha ‘Development’ Agenda was intended to put a special focus on the developmental aspects of existing and future agreements. But the real development issue is market access, and this is in danger of being overshadowed by other issues like access to essential medicines and SDT. Many countries are suspicious that Europe, the US and Japan will not deliver genuine market access for their exports. Meaningful implementation of existing agreements and the liberalisation of agriculture are the keys to allaying fears that the WTO system is not biased against poorer countries.

Looking at the challenges ahead, business has a clear role in putting pressure on governments to negotiate a deal that will allow trade liberalisation to move forward. The key stumbling block is agriculture, and without progress on this issue, developing countries will be unwilling to make concessions in other important areas like services. The liberalisation of the service sector has the potential to attract much needed investment to developing countries as well as providing opportunities for business.

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