Turning Point

Caribbean states were among countries worldwide that were left disappointed after bedlam  broke out at Cancun, Mexico at the Fifth Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organisation, causing its collapse. Although disappointed by the swift turn of events at the mid-September meeting, some regional countries actually believe they came away from the top-level ministerial meeting in a stronger position. The meeting broke down over the insistence of the EU, Japan and South Korea that negotiation of agreements on investment, competition, government procurement and trade facilitation — the so-called Singapore issues — should begin.

Now that the Fifth Ministerial has ended disastrously, significant questions have emerged such as what of the WTO in post-Cancun, whether there are repercussions for developing countries who stood their ground against wealthier nations and whether there could be any fall-out in the Free Trade Agreement in the Americas (FTAA) as negotiations have been closely tied to the WTO, particularly the issue of agriculture. Caribbean countries were among member WTO states that strongly opposed the launch of negotiations on the Singapore Issues. In a statement following the collapse of talks, the Caribbean Community (Caricom) said the Cancun Conference was expected to advance the Doha Development Round of Trade Negotiations on key issues for developing countries such as agriculture, non-agricultural market access, small economies and special and differential treatment among others.

“Caribbean countries, whose key interests are in the areas of small economies, special and differential treatment, services, agriculture and non-agricultural market access, were strong in their determination to have these development issues given priority consideration, consistent with the Doha Declaration and Decisions for a Development Round. There was little or no progress in these issues, “ the Caricom group said. “Caribbean delegations share the general sense of disappointment at the limited achievements of the Conference in spite of the best efforts of the hosts. Our ambassadors and regional negotiators must therefore with resolve continue to engage their counterparts in Geneva and maintain their continuing active role in the process to advance the development interests of the region.” Despite failing to obtain their objectives at the world trade talks, at least one Caribbean country believes the region emerged as part of an influential bloc better able to shape future negotiations. “I think for the first time in a long time, the developing countries of the world have been able to influence the agenda of international discussion,” said Jamaica’s junior foreign minister, Delano Franklyn, one of the negotiators.

Poor countries, he said, spoke with the authority and unanimity of the non-aligned movement of the 1970s. Jamaica’s Foreign Minister K D Knight said developing nations were well prepared for Cancun referring in particular to the newly formed Group of 22, led by Brazil, India, China and Mexico.
The group represents 65 percent of the world’s population and over 60 percent of the world’s farmers. Knight said while Caricom does not share all of the Group of 22’s positions, “their level of unity and purpose gave added strength to the voices from the developing world.” As for the future of the newly-formed group, Brazilian Minister for Agrarian Reform Miguel Rosse said: “We have a coalition of those that defend the present unfair international trade system, mainly the US and the EU, and we have a variety of scattered forces opposing this system. “The G20+ was created around the issue of agriculture in Cancun and in the post-Cancun will have to build bridges to the African and least developed countries and to civil society in the developed countries around the common goal of free and fair trade, food sovereignty and food security, social justice and the fight against poverty.”

US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick blamed the flow of rhetoric from some developing countries as being responsible for the collapse of WTO negotiations. “In my opinion, some spent too much time with tactics of inflexibility and inflammatory rhetoric before getting down to negotiate. Unfortunately — and this was the real shame — many smaller developing countries that followed this lead couldn’t make the turn that some of the other, bigger developing countries were ready to negotiate. And as a result, all walked away empty handed,” said Zoellick. With the collapse of the talks, one question that has emerged is whether negotiations on the over-ambitious agenda launched in Doha, Qatar in 2001 would be completed to meet the January 2005 deadline. Many left Cancun believing that the 2005 deadline is dead as did the pretence of a Doha so-called ‘Develop-ment’ round. Zoellick said the US would also continue to seek out free trade agreements (FTAs) with willing partners and that a number of ministers from different countries had already approached him during the Cancun meeting to inquire about FTA negotiations.

The US already has trade agreements with six countries and negotiations are currently taking place with 14 others. “The results are very revealing to me, that over the past few days, a number of other developing countries, that are committed to opening markets and economic reforms, expressed their interest in negotiating free trade agreements with the United States,” he said. Zoellick indicated the Cancun failure could influence progress in the FTAA negotiations in different ways. A ministers’ meeting to advance the FTAA negotiations is scheduled for Miami in November and it will be the first test as the US seeks to reassert its political dominance over the strong resolve shown by Latin America and the Caribbean in Cancun.

Now that the jubilation over the collapse of the WTO talks has ended, many developing countries which opposed the wealthier nations are now beginning to consider the real possibility of reprisal and retaliation.During the meeting the US made threats to withdraw market access preferences, terminate negotiations on free trade agreements and cut aid funding. As Cancun collapsed, US Senator Chuck Grassley said: “Let me be clear. I’ll use my position as chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, which has jurisdiction over international trade policy in the US Senate, to carefully scrutinise the positions taken by many WTO members during this ministerial.... “ I’ll take note of those nations that played a constructive role in Cancun, and those nations that didn’t. “ Cancun might long be over and a muted commitment made to continue talks in Geneva. But a more fundamental issue that has emerged and should be dealt with as a matter of urgency is over the way the WTO operates and whether it should be revamped to enable meaningful participation by its member countries and transparency to the public.