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WTO Cancun - EU determined to make trade work for all

On 10 September 2003 the World Trade Organisation will open its 5th Ministerial Conference in Cancun. This meeting is an important staging post on the road to a successful conclusion by end 2004 of the Doha Development Agenda (DDA), the round of trade negotiations launched two years ago in Qatar. The DDA is crucial for bolstering international economic growth, and helping developing countries integrate into the global economy. So it is critical that Cancun is a success, and the EU has pushed hard for progress on the outstanding issues. But all WTO members must do their part, to ensure that progress is maintained on market access issues (agriculture, industrial tariff negotiations and services), as well as on global rule-making in areas such as trade and environment, investment, competition, trade facilitation and government procurement and that the all-important development dimension of the negotiations is respected in full. .

Before leaving for Cancun, EU Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy said: "The DDA is about making trade work for all, and delivering o growth and development. The Cancun Ministerial meeting must move the negotiating process into a decisive phase, if we are to meet the end 2004 deadline. The timely conclusion of the round will bring good news to a world economy in need of stimulus. Europe is willing to take its responsibilities but we cannot do it alone. If we want this round to be successful, we will all have to shoulder the burden, and to show a willingness to compromise, a determination to succeed."

EU Farm Commissioner Franz Fischler added: "Europe is going to Cancún with one clear objective: We want to make the Doha Development Agenda a success. In order to do so, we have to continue the reform of the rules for international farm trade, which was started in the Uruguay Round. And I can promise that Europe will play ball. But if we want to move the talks forward, all WTO members have to make an effort, not just Europe. The EU has shown a lot of flexibility in the last weeks. We have moved from our starting position, because we think that the time of rhetoric is over and we have to start converging. Look at our improved offers to do more on opening markets, to do more in terms of reducing trade distorting farm support, to do more in reducing export subsidies. Unfortunately, I have not seen the same flexibility in other camps so far. In fact, I have seen no flexibility on the part of those who shout loudest."

Since the negotiations were launched in Doha in November 2001, a very substantial amount of work has been done. WTO members now need, at the Fifth Ministerial Conference in Cancun on 10-14 September 2003, to take a number of key decisions to achieve real progress both in the market access areas and in the rule-making areas of the negotiations, to fulfil the development aspirations of the round.

The outcome of Cancun will be measured in terms of how successful it will be in moving the negotiations into their next phase so that conclusion of the round can by achieved by the agreed date of the end of 2004.

To achieve this goal, Ministers in Cancun must take the necessary substantive decisions and provide political impetus for the whole of the DDA. It must remain clear that the DDA's final result remains an indivisible package in the form of a Single Undertaking for all WTO members: nothing is agreed until everything is agreed.

In preparation of Cancun, a revised draft Cancun Ministerial text - following a first draft of the end of July - was tabled on 24 August by the Chairman of the General Council of the WTO, Mr. Perez de Castillo. He did this on his own responsibility, but following a process of extensive consultations with WTO members. This draft declaration reflects many areas of agreement but also indicates the substantial differences remaining between WTO members that must be resolved by Ministers in Cancun.

For the EU, the text is not balanced in some areas (notably in agriculture), insufficiently ambitious in others (for example in industrial tariffs and geographical indications or presents a step down in ambition (e.g. on Environment).The text also fails to provide an unequivocal decision on the launch of the negotiations on the Singapore issues. Ministers now have the task to balance this text in Cancun and this is why the EU will work constructively with other WTO partners towards this goal.

Paving the way for Cancún, an agreement has recently been reached on the issue of access to generics for developing countries with no production capacity. This is a clear example that the WTO can respond flexibly and pragmatically to the concerns of developing countries, and the EU strongly welcomes the deal.

Key areas for decision in Cancun

• On agriculture, Cancun is not the end point of the farm trade talks, it is the mid-point. The EU will be striving to get agreement on a framework on how to cut trade distorting farm subsidies, export subsidisation and tariffs and how to give developing countries a more beneficial deal. The exact figures and the related rules and disciplines will then be negotiated later, in time to wrap up the entire Doha Development Agenda, including agriculture, in the end of 2004. The Ministers will also need to lay down the timetable for the adoption of the modalities as well as for the submission of schedules based on the latter. The EU underlines the need for a balanced outcome in agriculture. All participants have to make an effort.
  
  
• On non-agricultural market access (industrial products), Cancun should establish the framework for the reduction of tariffs and non tariff barriers ("modalities") and set the timetable for the remainder of the negotiations.
  
  A good deal of progress has been made, but we need to make sure that the proposals to open trade by reducing barriers are ambitious, not only for developed countries but also for developing ones. Industrial goods represent around 90% of world trade and 70% of trade by developing countries takes place with other developing countries. A high level of ambition is therefore essential to boost trade.
  
  
• On Services (GATS), Ministers should urge those that may not already have done so to submit initial offers, encourage improvements to existing offers, and establish a clear roadmap for completing the negotiations.
  
  Services represent between half and two thirds of both developed and developing countries. 15 of the world's 40 leading service exporters are from developing countries.
  
  Opening trade in services such as telecoms, banking, distribution or tourism, as well as the temporary entry of foreign professionals are thus key to modern and efficient economies. But further opening trade in services must not undermine the provision of public services. The EU's position on education, health and culture is particularly firm in this respect.
  
  
• On the Singapore issues - investment, competition, trade facilitation and transparency in government procurement - WTO members need to take decisions on the negotiating modalities for each of the four issues, so that negotiations can start immediately after Cancun. Negotiations should end successfully by the end of 2004 along with the other issues in the DDA, in line with the concept of the single undertaking.
  
  Singapore issues key to ensure that the benefits from trade opening are spread evenly among all WTO members. The EU seeks to establish clear, transparent and predictable rules that will ensure a level playing field. On Geographical Indications (GIs), Cancun should advance in the creation of a multilateral register for wines and spirits, whose GIs are already recognised by the WTO. It should also mark progress in the extension of GI protection to products other than wines and spirits. Finally, in the context of the agriculture negotiations the EU seeks to ensure that a number of EU GIs currently used in other countries are reserved for the exclusive use of European producers, thus protecting against pirating.
  
  
• On Special and Differential Treatment (SDT) and implementation issues, WTO members should at Cancun decide on a package of measures with real value added for developing countries, especially the least developed, and if necessary decide to continue work after Cancun. Significant progress on this has been achieved in Geneva over the last couple of months.
  
  
• Cancun should witness WTO accession of new Members, notably Least Developed Countries. Work is on track to allow accession by Cambodia and Nepal at the Conference. This would be the first accession of an LDC country since the creation of the WTO in 1995.
  
  
• On trade and the environment, in Cancun we should agree to give the UN Environmental Program (UNEP) and of the Secretariats of Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEA) observership status at the WTO Trade and Environment negotiations and to intensify work on environmental labelling. It should also agree on a framework to reduce unsustainable fisheries subsidies.
  
  
• On trade related assistance (TRA), Cancun should welcome the progress made and underline the continued commitment of WTO members to improve the quality, quantity and co-ordination of TRA as key to underpin the negotiations and their implementation.
  
  The EU is committed to providing TRA. From 2001-2003 we have committed 2 billion Euro and have set aside for the next 4-5 years again an amount of 2 billion Euro.

WTO Members must reaffirm their determination to continue and improve transparency, dialogue with the broader public, and coherence with other international organisations.

The importance the EU attaches to the Cancun conference is underscored by the European Parliament Resolution of 3 July and the Council conclusions of 21 July 2003, which renews the support for the Commission's approach and demonstrates to other WTO partners the EU's political commitment.

Support for a successful Cancun conference and for a comprehensive and ambitious outcome of the DDA continues to grow among WTO members.

Traditional partners such as Japan and the US are firmly in support of the Cancun conference but an increasing number of developing countries - whose importance and weight in the WTO continue to grow and now represent over 2/3 of membership - are putting their full weight behind the process. This adds significantly to the overall momentum behind the DDA.

In this final phase towards Cancun, EU will continue to build alliances and work together with a very broad range of both developed and developing countries and take initiatives with key partners. Cancun will only be a success if it meets the expectations of all WTO members.

Internally within the EU, the Commission will, in the final run-up to Cancun and during the Conference itself, continue to consult Member States, and the Council of Ministers will meet sur place. It will keep the European Parliament fully abreast of developments and maintain a structured dialogue with civil society. As is the custom, the Commission will include members of the EP and representatives of civil society as advisers in the EU delegation to Cancun.

For more information:

http://europa.eu.int/comm/trade/issues/newround/doha_da/cancun/index_en.htm

http://europa.eu.int/comm/agriculture/external/wto/cancun/index_en.htm

For the full info-pack "Doha Development Agenda: Making Trade Work for All" :
http://europa.eu.int/comm/trade/icentre/infopack_en.htm

For the info-pack "EU Agriculture and the WTO" :
http://europa.eu.int/comm/agriculture/external/wto/backgrou/cancun_en.pdf

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• The Fifth WTO Ministerial Conference  (9/9/2003)
• Frequently-asked questions on the WTO and EU agriculture (4/9/2003)
• Speech by Commissioner FISCHLER on 'Ten ingredients to make Cancun success'  (4/9/2003)
• Présentation par Pascal Lamy - En route pour Cancun (4/9/2003)
• Remarques par Commissaire Lamy sur l'Etat de préparation de la Réunion Ministérielle de l'OMC à Cancun devant le PE (2/9/2003)
• WTO farm talks: Commission presents info pack for Cancún (28/8/2003)