UofT G8 Information Centre: WTO Hong Kong Ministerial 1

WTO Ministerials

Hong Kong updates

WTO Hong Kong Ministerial
December 13-18, 2005

Update 1
Long Nights in Hong Kong

Sabrina Shaw, December 13, 2005

Aside from cries of "the WTO is killing farmers" from hypothermic Korean rice farmers (who chose to vent their anger by jumping into the Hong Kong harbour outside the Convention Centre), the mood inside is rather dry. Not much blinking going on at this stage.

The bilateral debate between the U.S. and the European Union on food aid surprisingly has emerged as a issue of prominence, with accusations being hurled from both sides throughout the day. A startling ad in the last page of the FT by the UN World Food Programme shows poor African children asking - "Will the WTO's trade negotiators take the food out of our mouths?" - clearly voicing the U.S. stance on the matter.

Otherwise, as the 149 member ministers start the roll call of statements to the plenary on Wednesday, there are no indications that the flurry of bilaterals that began today are leading anywhere quickly.

Among the main points thus far:

negotiating energy focusing on front-loading agriculture, the package for non-agricultural market access (NAMA) and the least developed countries (LDCs), where steps are needed to move forward and because these topics are linked tactically for a number of members.
Lamy estimated that the negotiations since agreement on the July package - the half-way point in the negotiations - were between "55 and 66%" of the way forward.
As the meeting got off the ground, the G20 developing countries seized the opportunity to stress its role as an "indispensable interlocateur" of the negotiations. Since Cancun, the G20 has remained unified in their focus on agriculture as the engine of the Doha negotiations.
While not stating anything new, the Ministerial Declaration of the G20 issued this morning (Tuesday) served to illustrate the prevailing unity of the group.
the Indian Trade Minister reiterated, special products (SP) and special safeguard mechanisms (SSMs) are gateway issues for developing countries in the negotiations.
The strong G20 stance on eliminating agricultural subsidies contrasted with EU trade commissioner Michael Mandelson's statement that while there was a need for an ambitious outcome, concentrating on agriculture - as important as it is - will defeat that ambitious outcome.
An integral part of any ambitious agenda is the development dimension - yet it is not clear exactly where the piecemeal dabs at addressing it fit into a development round per se.
The G20 is clear that the degree of specificity of any industrial (NAMA) tariff cuts on the part of developing countries would only be in parallel and proportionate to agricultural cuts.
For its part, the United States Trade Representative, Robert Portman, emphasized that Hong Kong was not about pitting the rich against the poor ... the trans-Atlantic divide is being revealed in who can take the high road on best meeting the development needs of the poor.

In terms of the negotiating process, the complaints that were so vocalized during Cancun with respect to inclusiveness and transparency have all but disappeared. From a practical standpoint, the informal chair's consultative group meetings (the ex-"Green room") are the only realistic way forward in an organization whose membership has grown to 149.

With bilaterals in full swing and the fist chair's consultative process tonight, delegations are putting their best foot forward along the well-trodden path ... to late night brinkmanship ...

Lamy broke Jose Bovy out of Hong Kong immigration detention - he had been accredited, but blacklisted by the HK authorities.

That is all for now.

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For the WTO's official site on the ministerial, please see the Sixth WTO Ministerial Meeting.

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	Please send comments to: g7@utoronto.ca This page was last updated December 14, 2005.