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| Officials lose hope of wrapping up Doha round by 2010 |
| Nayanima Basu / New Delhi Feb 14, 2010, 00:07 IST |
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Failure to close gaps in trade talks and minimal participation from the US have killed the prospects of meeting the 2010 deadline for closing the Doha round. according to Indian trade negotiators. They are also of the view that any failure to meet the deadline would put a question mark on the relevance of World Trade Organisation (WTO) as a global trade body.
“There is no question of concluding the talks this year. The US continues to stall the negotiations, as it is insistent on greater market access for its agri-products in developing world,” said a senior commerce department official.
After the WTO negotiations collapsed in Geneva last year, there has been no progress on agriculture and non-agricultural market access (Nama). Senior officials from member countries are engaged in technical-level discussions in Geneva to hammer out a consensus before a stock-taking by ministers in March-end.
Analysts also blamed the lack of political will on trade issues for the lapse. “The main argument advanced by the US is that it needs new effective market access for its exporters to win the support of the Congress for the trade deal and this could be delivered only by the sectoral agreements,” said Anwarul Hoda of Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER).
“Developing countries have resisted the proposal on the ground that the understanding from the outset has been that, as in the past, members would have the option to join sectoral agreements on a voluntary basis.”
According to Biswajit Dhar, director general, Research and Information System for Developing Countries (RIS), the 2010 deadline will be difficult to meet though the year will be defined as the year of recovery when global economies came out of one of the worst economic crisis.
“This year, everyone is jittery on how the recovery is going to shape up, after governments around the world looks at exiting from bailout packages, as they have reached the maximum limit of providing stimulus measures. While WTO would remain as a forum for arbitration, negotiations are fast reaching a dead-end,” he said.
Dhar pointed out that countries would become protectionist. He quoted the recent USTR Ron Kirk’s budget speech, in which he focused on the US President Obama’s mandate to bring back jobs to its citizens through increase exports and dynamic trade policy. “We’re also looking towards future successes that will support increased exports and American jobs over the long term,” Kirk had said, hinting at a new approach to the talks with a focus on domestic recovery.
While talks on agriculture and Nama are on full swing, members have not been able to come to conclusion on some of significant issues concerning sensitive products, tariff rate quotas, cotton subsidies, special safeguards mechanism and tropical products. In Nama, the US position had been unwavering over sectoral tariff reduction in developing countries, specifically in chemicals products.
In India, peak industrial tariffs have been brought down from 35 to 10 per cent ever since the beginning of the talks in Doha in 2001, stated a report by ICRIER. Developing countries had been demanding greater tariff flexibility to address the issue of economic development as greater flexibility would ultimately result in greater employment, especially in the sensitive sectors.
Indian trade negotiators are of the view that the failure to close gaps in trade talks, coupled with minimal participation from the US, has killed the prospects of meeting the 2010 deadline for closing the Doha round. Analysts and trade experts said the failure to meet the deadline would put a question mark on the relevance of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) as a global trade body.
Ever since the WTO negotiations collapsed in Geneva last year, there has been no progress on the main issues concerning agriculture and non-agricultural market access (Nama). Senior trade officials from member countries are presently engaged in technical-level discussions in Geneva to hammer out a consensus before a stock-taking by ministers in March-end.
“There is no question of concluding the talks this year. The US continues to stall the negotiations, as it is insistent on greater market access for its agriculture products in developing world,” said a senior commerce department official.
While talks on agriculture and Nama are on full swing, members have not been able to come to a conclusion on some of significant issues concerning sensitive products, tariff rate quotas, cotton subsidies, special safeguards mechanism and tropical products. In Nama, the US position had been unwavering over sectoral tariff reduction in developing countries, specifically in chemicals products.
According to trade analysts and think tanks, the 2010 deadline is not achievable mainly because the US has not been engaged and there is insufficient political will on trade issues. “The main argument advanced by the US is that it needs real new effective market access for its exporters in order to win the support of the Congress for the trade deal and this could be delivered only by the sectoral agreements. Developing countries have resisted the proposal on the ground that the understanding from the outset has been that, as in the past, members would have the option to join sectoral agreements on a voluntary basis,” said Anwarul Hoda of Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER).
In India, peak industrial tariffs have been brought down from 35 to 10 per cent ever since the beginning of the talks in Doha in 2001, stated a report by ICRIER. Developing countries had been demanding greater tariff flexibility to address the issue economic development as greater flexibility would ultimately result in greater employment, especially in the sensitive sectors.
According to Biswajit Dhar, director general, Research and Information System for Developing Countries (RIS), the 2010 deadline will be difficult to meet though the year will be defined as the year of recovery when global economies came out of one of the worst global economic recessions. “This year everyone is jittery on how the recovery is going to shape up after governments around the world looks at exiting from bailout packages as they have reached the maximum limit of providing stimulus measures. While WTO would remain as a forum for arbitration, negotiations are fast reaching a dead-end.”
Dhar pointed out that the countries would become protectionist. A case in point is the recent USTR Ron Kirk’s budget speech in which he focused on the US President Obama’s mandate to bring back jobs to its citizens through increase exports and dynamic trade policy. “We’re also looking towards future successes that will support increased exports and American jobs over the long term,” Kirk said hinting at a new approach to the talks with a focus on domestic recovery.
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