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Compromise mooted to save WTO meet

By C. Rammanohar Reddy

CANCUN SEPT. 13. A compromise WTO communiqu that will note that all countries are moving towards an agreement on the contentious issue of trade in agriculture, lay down the broad principles of such an agreement, and announce the launch of negotiations on the two new issues of government procurement and trade facilitation will be presented to Ministers later today for their approval at the Cancun ministerial conference.

According to authoritative sources close to the Chairman of the WTO conference, Luis Ernesto Derbez, the revised draft ministerial declaration is an attempt to save the Cancun conference from failure, but they said they were not sure if all the main players, the EU, the U.S. and the Group of 21 countries would endorse the communiqué without any changes.

"Success" in Cancun will come from the decision to launch negotiations on two of the four Singapore issues, though the E.U. will not be pleased that the text does not propose that the WTO begin talks on treaties on the more controversial issues of foreign investment and competition policies.

However, the latter two issues will not be abandoned. They are to be discussed again when the WTO is able to take a final decision on the modalities of an agreement on agriculture.

India has, at Cancun, signalled that it could live with negotiations on two of the four Singapore issues. But it will be a climb-down for the group of developing countries, led by Malaysia and India, which insisted it will not accept talks on any of the four Singapore issues.

The new text, which mediators have been putting together since last night, will be presented formally to delegates at noon (10.30 p.m. IST) today. This would leave the Ministers with just a day to examine, discuss and approve a framework agreement that has eluded consensus during more than 18 months of talks. The document will cover all the issues being negotiated in the Doha round of trade negotiations.

The presentation of a revised draft today means that the Cancun conference will at least avoid the colossal failure at Seattle in 1999, when the conference had to be abandoned without any communiqué being issued.

However, whether or not Cancun will see Governments breathing new life into the Doha round will depend on what the full text of the revised declaration contains.

Delegates do not rule out the possibility of the Ministers in the end being able to agree on little more than promising to work together and meeting again soon to resolve their differences.

There has been no erosion of support among any of the coalitions which have emerged in Cancun.

The all-important G-21, of which India is a leading member, has held together in spite of speculation promoted by the E.U. and the U.S. that this group would not stay united through the conference.

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