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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 136th Session on 10-11 March 2003 in Paris (agenda of the 136th Session of the Trade Committee).
The first part of the meeting was devoted to a comprehensive discussion on preparing for the 5th WTO Ministerial Meeting in Cancun, Mexico in September 2003. Notably, the Chair invited views on how to deal with important pending issues and deadlines. As a basis for discussion, the Dutch Delegation gave a brief presentation of a report entitled "Economic Benefits of the Doha Round", a study commissioned by the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs. The presentation highlighted some key findings of the report, touching upon the impact foreseen by the study of liberalisation in agriculture and services, as well as strengthened trade facilitation rules. Delegations welcomed the study as a catalyst for discussion, with many posing questions about some of its more surprising findings.
Concerning the state of negotiations, Delegations expressed contrasting views. Some felt that negotiations were more or less proceeding according to schedule and that there was no need for undue concern at this stage; they pointed out that negotiations were more advanced today than they were at an equivalent stage in the Uruguay Round, despite the more complex nature and more numerous actors involved in the current negotiations. However, many others felt that the current situation was worrisome, with deadlines having been missed already in a number of critical areas of particular importance for making this a development round (TRIPS and public health, implementation, and special and differential treatment). Many of these Delegations, while acknowledging that all areas under discussion in the Doha Development Agenda (DDA) needed to be dealt with under the single undertaking, felt that agriculture was the linchpin of the negotiations. In this respect, the domestic political context in countries was pointed out as a potential pressure on the negotiations.
Delegates also discussed the inter-relationship between many of the areas under negotiation, citing for instance the links between market access and rules. Another area that stimulated debate was the set of so-called Singapore issues (investment, competition, transparency in government procurement and trade facilitation), on which negotiations are mandated under the DDA following agreement on modalities at the 5th WTO Ministerial Meeting, and which Delegates thought should be assessed individually on their own merits. On all of the above issues, Delegates felt it was important to develop positive linkages between topics, rather than allowing existing links to slow or diminish the ambition of the negotiations.
Most participants felt that it was important not to overload the Ministerial agenda in Cancun, while acknowledging that, of necessity, the scope of discussion would be broad. They agreed on the fact that the Doha mandate, while difficult, was clear, and that attempts to re-interpret the mandate or add on new issues would be unacceptable. They felt that there was significant disparity in the level of expectations for the Cancun meeting among WTO members, as well as among the public at large. Delegations agreed that to ensure the success of Cancun and the DDA, it was necessary to think creatively and that willingness to compromise in some areas would enable gains in others, so that all participants in the DDA would be winners.
The second part of the meeting was devoted to an informal consultation between the Trade Committee and the Business and Industry Advisory Committee (BIAC) of the OECD. This consultation provided the opportunity for an informed and mutually beneficial exchange of views on topics directly related to the Doha Development Agenda. As background to the consultation, BIAC had submitted a position paper which laid out BIAC's priorities for the Doha negotiations and provided recommendations to the OECD on the role it could play.
During its introductory presentation, BIAC informed Delegates of its priorities and expectations for the WTO negotiations issue by issue. Priorities included continued and significant progress on industrial goods, services, agriculture, the relationship between trade and investment, trade facilitation and transparency in government procurement. BIAC believes that focus should also continue to be placed on WTO rules on antidumping and subsidies, trade and environment, trade and competition policy and telecommunications and electronic commerce. BIAC representatives indicated market access for non-agricultural goods, with elimination of all non-agricultural tariffs according to a fixed timetable, as their first priority, while also pointing to the importance of progress on modalities for agricultural negotiations for the overall advancement of the DDA. They expressed the willingness of the business community to participate in technical assistance to developing countries, notably in the area of trade facilitation, which they saw as particularly important.
Concerning OECD work, BIAC expressed the view that the OECD has a key role to play in fostering further confidence in and support for the global trading system, through fact-based analysis in a number of areas to support development of policies that underpin open markets and their benefits. Notably they praised the previous Trade Committee reports Open Markets Matter and GATS: The case for open services markets, which is currently being updated, as well as OECD outreach work. Concerning the Singapore issues, BIAC felt that these should be decoupled and treated separately given their very different nature. In regard to their expectations for the Cancun Ministerial, BIAC representatives believed that only a short list of issues should be put to Ministers for decision and hoped that countries would be in a position to proceed with negotiations on the priority topics mentioned above.
In the rich discussion that followed, Delegations welcomed the BIAC paper and the priorities and support for ambitious broad-based negotiations contained therein. BIAC reflections on issues that could emerge in the WTO were seen as extremely helpful and informative for the Trade Committee in its efforts to examine key issues upstream of debate in the WTO. Delegates enquired as to the nature of BIAC's involvement in coalition-building beyond its own membership on specific issues and with other parts of business and civil society, and asked whether BIAC had developed a specific communications strategy for this purpose. It was suggested that involving non-OECD countries and particularly Observer countries to the Trade Committee in BIAC's activities might be useful. In particular, several Delegates expressed the view that more vocal participation in the ongoing debate on services liberalisation on the part of the business community would be helpful in advancing that debate. BIAC welcomed these suggestions and indicated that it was currently developing its approach for participation in ongoing public debates surrounding trade issues, informing Delegates that it had already been focusing on content and expert advice for some time now.
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, the Canadian Delegation informed the Trade Committee of recent improvements to the Canadian Preferential Scheme for Least Developed Countries (LDCs), which opens further the Canadian market to LDCs' products. The Australian Delegation informed the Committee of a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) recently signed with Singapore, the first FTA in Australia in 20 years, adding that the agreement is fully consistent with WTO rules in terms of scope and depth.
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