Report from Doha
Walden Bello
Focus on Trade, No. 70-71, November 2001
A detailed report from the negotiations in Doha can be accessed at the website of the Focus on the Global South
Revised Ministerial Draft Declaration:
Still Harful to Interests of Developing Countries
Walden bello with Aileen Kwa
The revised draft ministerial declaration issued in the afternoon of November 13 continues to highly detrimental to the interests of
developing countries.
The new text, as many have already pointed out, continues to relegated to the margins the developing countries' demand that
implementation issues should serve as the core work agenda of the WTO in the next few years. This text affirms the loud complaints in Doha by developing country representatives that their voice no longer counts in the WTO.
Likewise the text continues to place at centre stage the developed countries' desire to initiate a process that would lead to negotiations
on the so-called "new issues" of investment, competition policy, government procurement, and trade facilitation. The text explicitly calls for the immediate initiation of negotiations on government procurement and on trade facilitation. While there appears to be some dilution in the language on investment and competition policy, in fact the text sets in motion activities by the working groups on investment and competition policy that are calculated to give momentum to the adoption of a decision to launch negotiations in these areas during the Fifth Session of the Ministerial.
The revised text also ignores the proposal for a "development box" to be added to the Agreement on Agriculture that many developing
countries have pushed for in Doha to promote food security and development.
Focus further notes with disapproval the revised text's dropping of the phrase that the ILO is the "appropriate forum" for dialogue on trade and labor issues. The new formulation leaves the door open for the WTO to expand its jurisdiction to an area where it does not belong.
It is alleged that the compromise language relating to countries' concern about public health is a step forward, but as some observers
have pointed out, the so-called compromise will still leave unchanged the language of the TRIPs agreement, and this will serve as the basis for future legal challenges to countries that override patents for public health purposes.
In sum, there are minimal changes to this version of the ministerial declaration. Its adoption will constitute a setback for developing
countries in the WTO.
Standoff in Negotiations
DOHA, Sunday 11 November - Intense backroom discussions marked the first two days of the WTO meeting.
Developing countries feel that the ministerial draft circulated by Director General Michael Moore and Stuart Harbinson, chairperson of the General Council, is unbalanced and does not reflect their opinions and interest.
Murasoli Maran, India's Minister of Trade and Industry, stated that the ministerial was "a mere formality and we are being coerced against our will".
The United States, the European Union, and other developed countries want to launch a new round of trade negotiations that would include addressing the "new issues" of investment, government procurement, competition policy, and trade facilitation.
The developing countries want the ministerial to focus mainly on implementation matters related to the previous round, the Uruguay Round.
"This is simply a matter of capacity. With all the outstanding problems of implementation, developing countries simply cannot take on new commitments to liberalize now", said Minister of Industry and Trade Iddi Samba from Tanzania.
Samba also attacked the "non-transparent process that is marginalising the African countries.
He added, "No matter how loudly we say it, it seems our opinions no longer count".
Given the standoff between developed and developing countries, the fate of the Fourth Ministerial Session of the WTO hang in the balance as it entered its third day on Sunday, November 11.
Snapshots from Doha
Standing on both sides of the entrance to the huge Al Dafna Hall at the Sheraton, the protesters carried a common sign that read "No Voice at the WTO", calling attention to the lack of transparency, democracy, and civil society input in the decision-making processes of the organization. Once over 5000 had filed in, the demonstrators started chanting "What do we want? Democracy!" An effort by Jose Bove, the famous French anti-McDonalds activist, to lead the demonstrators into the hall was initially countered by Qatari security forces. A few moments later, however, they were allowed in. Fulfilling a pledge made at an open session earlier in the day by the Crown Prince, none of the activists was arrested or detained.
Superparanoia is the only word that can describe the state of mind of the US security force in Doha. As delegates began to arrive, the US Trade Representative's office moved to get US NGO representatives billeted at the Ritz Carlton with the government people. One of them was Anuradha Mittal, executive director of food First. When they found out that Anuradha was a citizen of India, they "freaked out", she said. They prevented her from riding on the same bus from the hotel to the conference site, refused her access to US official briefings, and did not provide her with a security phone and a gas mask, which they were distributing to other members of the American entourage.
Much fewer NGO representatives are in Doha compared to Seattle, according to a report in the Peninsula, a Doha newspaper.
Here is an excerpt from the article:
"While the numbers of NGO representatives and mediapersons covering the 4th ministerial meeting of the WTO in Doha pales in comparison to those at the 1999 conference in Seattle, the number of delegates has more or less remained the same, said an official yesterday.
"As against the expected attendance of 4500 announced earlier by the organizers, about 3800 people are in Doha to attend the conference.
"Briefing the media ahead of the meeting's formal inauguration, WTO spokesman Keith Rockwell said the largest delegation of 159 has come from Japan. This is followed by the French (75), Canada (62), Indonesia (60), United States (51), and India (48).
"The European Union has a presence of 508 delegates, including about 50 representatives of the European Commission. Apart from the delegations of the 142 member countries, 28 observers and 48 international organizations are represented in Doha. Rockwell said the number of delegates attending the conference is 2,641. There are 388 representatives of the non-governmental organizations and 808 media persons. He said the Seattle conference was covered by about 2700 journalists and 650 NGOs had sent in nearly 1300 representatives".
Copyright 2001 Focus on the Global South
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