134th Session of the Trade Committee - Summary

The OECD Trade Committee provides senior trade policy officials of OECD Member countries and several observer countries the opportunity for a wide-ranging exchange on key trade policy issues and developments. It held its 134th Session on 29-30 April 2002 in Paris (agenda of the 134th Session of the Trade Committee).

The morning of the first day of the meeting was devoted to an informal consultation between the Trade Committee and the Trade Union Advisory Committee (TUAC) of the OECD. This consultation provided the opportunity for an informed and mutually beneficial exchange of views on topics directly related to the Doha Declaration. As background to the consultation, TUAC had submitted a discussion paper comprising an assessment of the Doha Declaration by the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU), along with a short noted directed towards the work of the Trade Committee.

A representative of the ICFTU presented the assessment document, which appraised both the positive aspects and perceived shortcomings of the Doha Declaration from a trade union perspective, reminding Trade Delegates that this evaluation should be seen against the background of an increasingly negative view of the multilateral trading system by many of its affiliates, particularly in the developing world. The ICFTU assessment suggested that the negotiating performance of developing countries was its most effective in any world trade negotiation to date and welcomed the Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health. It also welcomed the start of some negotiations on the environmental agenda, and a fairly strong endorsement of the precautionary principle in the preamble of the Ministerial Declaration. However, it was felt that the social dimension of trade had not received sufficient attention at Doha. In this context, disappointment was expressed at outcomes in a number of areas and an overall lack of transparency and consultation with trade unions and civil society.

In terms of OECD work on trade, the TUAC representative expressed a number of thoughts for both the Trade Policy Message to be addressed to Ministers by the Chairman of the Trade Committee, and for the Ministerial Communiqué. These focused in large part on underscoring the need for policy dialogue and coherence between trade policy and policy in other areas, particularly as this relates to social issues. He expressed the hope that OECD work could focus more strongly on the social dimension of trade, globalisation and sustainable development, including through co-operation with the newly created World Commission on the Social Dimension of Globalisation.

In the ensuing discussion, Trade Committee Delegates endorsed much of trade union movement’s views, particularly as concerns the need to strengthen confidence in the multilateral trading system. However, they did not share what was seen as an overly pessimistic view of the state of advancement on social issues and considered that significant progress had been made in Doha and over the past year more generally. They were particularly favourable to the suggestion to develop co-operation with the World Commission on the Social Dimension of Globalisation.

A significant portion of the meeting was devoted to a discussion on the draft Trade Policy Message to Ministers from the Chairman of the Trade Committee in view of its revision and submission to Ministers ahead of the OECD Ministerial Council Meeting in May 2002. The discussion of the draft text was preceded by a more general discussion of recent important developments in Geneva. Delegates were encouraged by the fact that the negotiating infrastructure had been put into place relatively quickly; on the other hand, they expressed concern at the uneven pace of progress on different topics, noting that the work programme had not yet been agreed in some key areas, e.g. market access for non-agricultural goods. They underscored the element of urgency given the tight deadlines laid out in Doha, and adhered to the Chair’s view that the trade community should no longer consider itself in a “post-Doha” phase but rather in a “pre-Mexico” phase. The Chair also pointed to the need to deal with the core issues at hand, while avoiding the unnecessary politicisation of marginal issues which could distract from these core issues.

The OECD Secretariat presented to the Committee a Progress Report to Ministers on Promoting Greater Policy Coherence between Trade and Development Co-operation Policies. This report was developed by the OECD Trade and Development Co-operation Directorates in response to the Communiqué from the OECD Ministerial Council Meeting of 2001. In that document, OECD Ministers recognised the major role of the OECD in continuing its efforts to strengthen the multilateral trading system, welcomed on-going efforts in OECD to promote greater policy coherence between trade and development co-operation policies, and requested a progress report for the Ministerial Council Meeting in 2002. The Progress Report was submitted to the Trade Committee for information and will be submitted to Ministers under the responsibility of the Secretary-General. Delegates welcomed the report and offered some suggestions for its improvement. They underlined the importance of more effective diffusion of the OECD work on trade and development, as a capacity-building tool for developing countries and as a way to avoid duplication of efforts.

A representative from the World Bank presented a draft strategy paper on “The Doha Development Agenda – Moving Forward”, for discussion, comments and input from Trade Committee Delegates. Delegates welcomed this initiative and expressed support for its central message, namely that the success of the Doha process requires efforts from trade officials in WTO Member countries to tackle barriers to imports from developing countries; from developing country governments to adopt more effective policies to integrate their economies into the international trading system; and from development agencies to increase their support for trade-related reforms and strengthening of institutions. 

The OECD Secretariat presented the draft Programme of Work and Budget for 2003-2004, for comments and with a view to providing guidance for the submission to be made by the Secretary-General to the OECD Council. The results of the prioritisation of activities by the Trade Committee were also presented for information. The Committee expressed overall satisfaction at the results of this exercise, noting the need for a certain degree of flexibility in the work programme in order to address any important new developments at the WTO. “Singapore issues”, services and dialogue with Russia were among the highest priorities set by Members.

In response to the invitation made to Delegations to share information and discuss recent developments in policies that may significantly affect trade relations or the functioning of the multilateral trading system, a representative from the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) informed the Committee of the recently concluded Free Trade Agreement between the EFTA States and Singapore, which is expected to enter into force on 1 January 2003, and of the Amendments to the EFTA Convention. A number of Delegates raised the issue of developments in the steel sector. They expressed strong concern at the recent decision by the United States to impose safeguard measures in this sector, pointing to risks of retaliation by other countries, along with risks for the current negotiations and the credibility of the multilateral trading system as a whole. They expressed their hopes for a swift resolution to this issue within the WTO framework.

Finally, Delegates were informed of the results of the recent Services Experts Meeting in March 2002, and of the state of advancement of preparations for two upcoming outreach activities. A Global Forum on Trade to address the development dimensions of the Singapore issues will be held in Hong Kong, China on 19-20 June 2002. Another Global Forum will be held in November to examine market access issues for developing country exporters that can arise from the implementation of environmental measures.

The Trade Committee will hold its next meeting on 28-30 October 2002.