141st Session of the Trade Committee - Summary

The OECD Trade Committee provides senior trade policy officials of OECD Member countries and observers the opportunity for a wide-ranging exchange on key trade policy issues and developments. It held its 141st Session on 9th and 10th March 2005 in Paris.  Three countries were invited as ad hoc observer to this session.  One session of the Trade Committee took the form of a Consultation with the Business and Industry Advisory Committee to the OECD (BIAC).

The Trade Committee devoted the first portion of its meeting to discussing the Framework for the Doha Development Agenda agreed in July among WTO Members in Geneva and how to bring about a successful outcome to the Hong Kong ministerial meeting in December 2005.  (The text of the “July package” can be found at: http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/dda_e/draft_text_gc_dg_31july04_e.htm).  Delegates agreed that in order to produce a sufficient outcome in Hong Kong, negotiating momentum must be maintained and strengthened in a wide variety of areas:  agriculture, market access in non-agricultural goods, trade facilitation, trade in services, WTO rules and issues of particular interest to developing countries.  Delegates discussed elements of a Trade Message, to be drawn up by the Chair of the Trade Committee, intended to engage Ministers in the concerns and challenges arising from the DDA when they attend the OECD Council at Ministerial level in May.

The Trade Committee discussed the issue of Special and Differential Treatment (SDT) and suggested that analytical work on this issue, under discussion in Geneva in the context of the ongoing WTO negotiations, should be undertaken.  SDT is based on the underlying precept that developing countries may have difficulty in implementing trade agreements as completely and as quickly as developed countries. 

Several Delegations underlined that the development dimension of the Doha Round, which includes fair conditions of competition in agriculture and effective market access in NAMA and services, is clearly a broader concept than SDT.

The Chair of the Working Party to the Trade Committee underlined the major elements of the ongoing work of that subsidiary group.  Delegations were provided with the opportunity to comment on on-going and up-coming analytical work in the Trade Directorate and events organized by the Trade Committee and its subsidiary bodies.

Discussions continued on the OECD horizontal project on Trade and Structural Adjustment.  This project aims to identify the requirements for successful structural adjustment for both developed and developing countries via the reallocation of resources to more efficient uses  Macro-economic policies, labour market policies, education and innovation policies are central determinants of successful structural adjustment.  Identifying ways of achieving a balance of efficiency and equity, or minimizing adjustment costs on individuals and communities, remains a key objective of this analytical work.  This work will undergo further revisions with the aim to complete it by the annual meeting of the OECD Council at Ministerial level in May.  The full study on trade and structural adjustment will be published at the end of May.

On the occasion of the consultations between BIAC and the Trade Committee, one Delegation presented a paper on Trade and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).  The OECD monitors an instrument on CSR, the Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, in its Investment Committee (http://www.oecd.org/topic/0,2686,en_2649_34889_1_1_1_1_34529562,00.html).  It was decided that further discussions on this issue were warranted, and will take place in a future meeting of the Working Party of the Trade Committee.

Members, Observers and BIAC participants discussed the business perspective of the DDA negotiations.  BIAC participants outlined their priorities in ongoing trade negotiations in the areas of non-agricultural market access, agriculture, services, WTO rules, trade facilitation and their views on special concerns of developing countries.