The
crucial fifth ministerial meeting
of the World Trade Organisation
(WTO) begins today at the Mexican
resort of Cancun amid hopes and
fears, particularly of poor countries
like Bangladesh. The meeting to
be attended by trade ministers
of all 146 member countries of
the WTO, is scheduled to wrap
up on Saturday.
The member governments of the
WTO aim to use the five-day meeting
to hammer out a new global agreement
on trade -- one that balances
sharply contradictory demands
from rich and poor nations. Bangladesh,
the coordinator of the 49 least
developed countries (LDCs), has
been made vice-chairman of the
meet to be run by its Commerce
Minister Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury.
He will be leading a 14-member
delegation to the meet.
"Bangladesh will make all
efforts to press home the 16-point
demand of the LDCs in accordance
with the Dhaka Declaration adopted
in June following a three-day
conference of the LDC trade ministers,"
the commerce minister said to
The Daily Star on Sunday. The Dhaka
Declaration includes temporary
movement of natural persons, binding
commitment on duty- and quota-free
access of the LDC products to
the market of the developed countries,
enhanced market share of the LDCs
in global trade and a moratorium
on anti-dumping duties on the
products of the LDCs.
The first draft of the WTO, made
available to all member countries
at the end of July, made no commitment
in favour of the LDCs as reflected
in Dhaka Declaration, prompting
Bangladesh to reject the draft
outright and urge the WTO Secretariat
to include provisions in favour
of the poor countries in the next
draft. The second draft prepared
in end-August also frustrated
the LDCs including Bangladesh
as it did not make any categorical
commitment towards the LDCs. However,
following repeated appeals by
Bangladesh to the WTO, the latest
draft has included 'movement of
service provider', but it does
not clearly mean the movement
of natural persons, which the
LDCs have been demanding, experts
said.
Dhaka also protested the second
draft, and permanent Representative
of Bangladesh to WTO, Geneva,
Dr. Toufiq Ali has expressed the
concern to the WTO, sources said. The
final declaration of the meeting
is likely to be made on the basis
of the latest draft of the WTO.
Dr. Debapriya Bhattacharya, eminent
economist and executive director
of the Centre for Policy Dialogue
(CPD), told The Daily Star recently
that Bangladesh should pursue
both offensive and defensive strategies
during the Cancun talks to reap
maximum benefit.
Issues like market access, temporary
movement of natural persons and
implementation of different pledges
made earlier in favour of the
LDCs should figure prominently
on the 'offensive' agenda, he
said. While the Singapore issues
-- which include multilateral
investment policy and transparency
in government procurement and
trade facilitation -- and agriculture
issues need to be negotiated defensively
because if agreed and implemented,
they would pose enormous threat
to the national economy, he observed.
Sources both in the public and
private sectors said the economy
of Bangladesh and other LDCs would
be hit hard once the Singapore
issues are adopted. The meet is
likely to make it binding for
all WTO member countries to open
their service sectors for foreign
investment, which will also be
disastrous for countries like
Bangladesh, the sources feared.
Earlier, the commerce minister
said Bangladesh would not sign
any WTO agreement that may go
against its interest. The WTO
held its first ministerial conference
in 1996 in Singapore, which pledged
to offer duty- and quota-free
market access of all products
originating from the LDCs to the
developed countries. But the rich
nations are yet to fulfil the
pledge.
The Cancun conference has been
convened to assess progress made
towards trade liberalisation under
the Doha Development Agenda, adopted
by the WTO in November in Doha,
Qatar. According to Doha Declaration,
all trade-related negotiations
have to be completed by January
2005. But no significant development
to that end has so far been made.
