|
Gearing up for WTO talks in Hong Kong
Officials from 149 countries are set to meet in Hong Kong for a
heated round of WTO talks. The challenge is to get beyond rival
national interests and cut out a fairer system of global trade.
Navin Dahal from MS Nepal partner SAWTEE will go and try to put
his fingerprints on the negotiations
By Line Wolf Nielsen
Navin Dahal’s copy of the latest draft ministerial text for the
upcoming WTO meeting in Hong Kong is marked with yellow
highlights and comments. He is busy preparing himself for what
will be his first participation in a World Trade Organisation
meeting.
Navin Dahal will represent SAWTEE, where he works as the
research director and will be part of the official delegation
from Nepal, which counts 20 members from various different
ministries, trade associations and corporate organisations. Also
Dr Posh Raj Pandey, President of SAWTEE, have a seat in the
official delegation.
SAWTEE is a regional network that operates through its
secretariat in Kathmandu and counts 11 member institutions from
five South Asian countries, namely Bangladesh, India, Nepal,
Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
Advising the Government
The overall objective of SAWTEE is to build the capacity of
concerned stakeholders in South Asia in the context of
liberalisation and globalisation. An objective Navin Dahal will
have a unique possibility to influence when attending the WTO
meeting in Hong Kong mid-December.
“In India they would have just one person assigned to deal with
agriculture issues and another for industry issues. As it is,
Nepal has one WTO ambassador in Geneva and two under
secretariats - who also needs to attend to issues regarding ILO
and The UN Human Rights commission as well as WTO. The Nepalese
government realizes that they do not have the capacity to
understand and analyze all WTO relevant issues and they have,
wisely, sought advice from other stakeholders,“ Navin say with a
sly smile.
Navin Dahal is exited about going but holds no illusions on what
will come out of the negotiations. The two previous meetings in
Seattle and Cancun collapsed and although this meeting is billed
as critical for wrapping up a new multilateral trade accord -
known as the Doha Development round – Navin Dahal is acutely
aware of all the shortcomings, the dilemmas and diverted
interests engulfing WTO talks.
“In Doha it was decided that the least developed countries, also
known as LDCs, should have better market access and long term
periods of transition, in order to smooth the adaptation of WTO
rules and regulations. However, almost all these nice
commitments are not mandatory and I find it hard to believe that
the WTO members can agree on more binding measures, let alone
deal with development issues on health patents and
transformation of technology,” says Navin Dahal.
WTO issues
Currently Nepal has an agreement with the EU countries about a
duty free and a quota free market access. Despite the agreement
Navin Dahal stresses this issue as an important one for Nepal.
“EU can take it back tomorrow if they want, so in my view there
is an urgent need for getting the agreement down in writing
within a WTO frame, so it becomes binding for all and not just
unilateral.”
The size of domestic agricultural support is a real hot WTO
potato. Currently it is accepted that LDCs support domestic
agriculture by spending as much as up to 10 percent of the
national gross domestic product (GDP). However, in Nepal the
current level of agricultural subsidies amounts to only 1-2
percent.
“On paper it could look as if Nepal should then aim at getting
everyone else down to our level, but if we look at the future
potential of the country we might want to give more and
therefore it will be important for Nepal to maintain some
flexibility,” he explains.
MS voices in Hong Kong
The meeting is no small affair: Government ministers and their
aides from 149 countries are scheduled to attend, not to mention
thousands of lobbyists, armies of protesters from around the
world, and some 3,500 journalists.
MS will be present in Hong Kong with three members of the board
and 5 activists from the activist group “Stop the Trade
Robbery”. For a long time MS have been running campaigns about
international trade policy in order to enlighten the public in
Denmark about international trade and WTO issues as seen from a
development perspective.
Partners from five-six different MS country programs will take
part in the WTO meeting and will get a chance to meet and
discuss the political and practical implications of WTO trade
policy and development. Sharing of innovative ideas for
campaigning on trade will be the theme for one workshop and on
top of being an opportunity to lobby for MS values on trade, the
Hong Kong meeting will give promote and strengthen the network
and co-operation between MS partners.
Nepal became a WTO member in September 2003
Other WTO Ministerials:
Cancún 10–14 Sept. 2003
Doha 9–14 Nov. 2001
Seattle 30 Nov.–3 Dec. 1999
Geneva 18 & 20 May 1998
Singapore 9–13 Dec. 1996
|
