CPD
Occasional Paper Series 3
Setting the Agenda for the Next
WTO Round: Perspectives from Bangladesh
on the Seattle Ministerial
In
the face of their continued marginalisation
in the global trade and investment
many developing countries are trying
to pursue a proactive approach in
their effort to more effectively
integrate their economies in the
Multilateral trading system (MTS).
At the same time, developed
countries have stepped up their
efforts towards an early launching
of a new round of Multilateral trading
negotiations (MTN) and broadening
its scope through the
inclusion of "new"
issues. With the approach of the
Third Ministerial Conference of
the WTO, the developing countries
(DCs) in general and the least developed
countries (LDCs) in particular found
it necessary to take the stock
of the state of implementation of
the UR agreements, to assess the
prospect of reviewing the so-called
"built-in agenda" of the UR agreements
and to prepare for the next MTN.
This was essential especially in
view of the call by some of the
developed countries to hold a new
round of trade talks at the earliest
possible time. This paper seeks
to project a civil society perspective
on Bangladesh's concerns and expectations
in the wake of the third WTO Ministerial
Meeting.
The
paper points out that WTO provisions
allow for reviews of particular
provisions of certain agreements
as well as the whole agreements
at a certain specified period according
to agreed schedules. A clear understanding
on the problems of implementation,
and new directions of negotiations
pertaining to various provisions
of the built-in agenda are of vital
importance for a country such as
Bangladesh. Major reviews which
were expected to come under discussion
in the Seattle meeting embraced
three areas: (a) specific provision
review, (b) general review and (c)
continuing negotiations. Since the
Seattle Meeting was expected to
provide an opportunity to discuss
important components of the major
agreements negotiated under the
Uruguay Round and set the agenda
for some of the future negotiations,
it was hoped that the Meeting would
provide broad guidelines along which
such reviews could be undertaken.
It was thus important for Bangladesh
to design a thoughtful strategic
response on each of the important
issues involved in the built-in
agenda which would come under discussion
in the course of the Seattle Meeting
and, in the process, to be able
to influence the discussion in such
a way that the position of the LDCs
could be adequately reflected in
the Ministerial Text which was expected
to be adopted at the meeting. Keeping
this in the perspective, the paper
comes out with a number of concrete
recommendations towards strengthening
integration of the LDCs into the
global trading regime. These cover
such areas as ATC, anti-dumping,
TRIPS, TRIMS and dispute settlement
mechanisms.
It
is pointed out that a number of
member countries have already submitted
a good number of proposals for new
negotiations concerning agriculture,
services and related issues. These
include: negotiations in some specified
sectors of services, negotiations
on specific subjects, negotiations
for further liberalisation of trade
in all service sectors, and quota-free
access to all agricultural products
etc. The paper attempts to articulate
what could be Bangladesh's position
vis-à-vis those proposal.
The
paper also points out that the UR
Agreement came out with a specific
positive agenda for the developing
countries, specially the LDCs. The
positive agenda was expected to
contribute towards reversal of the
process of continued marginalisation
of the LDCs in the global economy.
The
paper calls for ascertaining the
extent to which the promised package
of support has actually been realised
on the ground in the post-URA through
a comprehensive review and that
this should precede any new round
of trade negotiation.
The
paper argues that by following a
strategy of positive engagement
around a pro-active agenda, Bangladesh
could maximise from the opportunities
available within the WTO regime.
The paper identifies a number of
common issues and approaches which
could inform the position to be
taken by the LDCs as a group during
the Seattle Ministerial.
To
obtain the full text of this report
please contact:
Centre
for Policy Dialogue
Dialogue
and Communication Division
House 40C, Road 11, Dhanmondi R/A,
Dhaka-1205, Bangladesh
Mailing Address: GPO Box 2129, Dhaka-1000,Bangladesh
Tel: (8802) 8124770, Fax: (8802)
813095.
