DUNKEL STRIKES CAUTIOUS BUT POSITIVE NOTE ON NEW ROUND.

Jul 12, 1984

DUNKEL STRIKES CAUTIOUS BUT POSITIVE NOTE ON NEW ROUND.

GENEVA, JULY 10 (IFDA/CHAKRAVARTHI RAGHAVAN) – The GATT Director-General, Arthur Dunkel, struck Tuesday a cautious but positive note on the prospects for a new round of trade negotiations, being pushed in GATT by the U.S.A. and Japan.-

Dunkel, who was addressing a press conference, underlined that both the Industrial and Third World countries have laid stress on implementation of the GATT work programme. Which was a continuous process and not something with a definite "start-stop" time-frame.-

While the OECD countries at their London summit had given priority to the work programme, they had mentioned a new round after careful preparations and consultations with other countries.-

The Third World countries in their May 4 joint paper had taken "a more cautious, even conditional" approaches Dunkel said.-

A number of issues on the GATT work programme had a deadline of the november 1984 Contracting Parties (CPs) meeting, while others had a longer-span.-

The work on agriculture and tropical products had shown the most promising progress so far, and he hoped that the November 1984 meeting would come up with recommendations for negotiations to deal with issues in this area including subsidy disciplines, access to markets, etc.-

On safeguards, an item before GATT since the Tokyo Round declaration of 1973, Dunkel said that "for the first time we are making progress", though the issue was "very tricky".-

On the issue of the "timing" of the new round, Dunkel said he would not like to dramatise things, but hoped the next meeting of the CPs would show some movement forward.-

The negotiations in GATT now, concerning mainly non-tariff issues, were more difficult than mere tariff-cuts, and involved the rules op the game. Unlike in tariffs, the negotiators could not go back home and say they gained in one area and gave up somewhere else.-

There was hence merit in having a package of negotiations, though this should not be a ground for not taking actions in areas already agreed upon, such as standstill and rollback on protectionism.-

There was also a question of "political timing" involved since a number of countries would soon be going to polls.-

Reminded that the Third World joint paper had underlined prior implementation of past commitments, before consideration could be given, to any idea of a new round, Dunkel agreed that there was a difference of opinion between the Industrial and Third World countries in this regard.-

The Third World countries, he said, appeared to be saying that they would need a certain time after the implementation of the GATT work programme before they could agree to a new push in GATT through a new round of negotiations.-

But he stressed that in a number of areas, the GATT work programme involved the concerned committees making recommendations to the Contracting Parties on further negotiations for liberalisation.-

This applied to agriculture, a north-south round, tropical products, textiles, etc.-

Dunkel thus appeared to envisage in all these and some other areas, negotiations being launched and dealt with as a package.-

Third World sources however note that the ministerial declaration, and the agreed GATT work programme, involved the various committees dealing with the issue and negotiating recommendations, for adoption by the Contracting Parties, for further liberalisation of trade in their respective areas.-

They underline that this was the "compromise" reached at the 1982 Ministerial meeting, after the U.S. efforts there to "launch a new round of north-south negotiations" had failed.-

This, Third World sources say may appear to "be merely involving some "nuance", but they were fundamental.-

In all these areas, what was sought to be done through the GATT work programme, was to ensure implementation of the commitments which formed part of the package of past rounds, that remain unimplemented.-

As the joint Third World paper has said these have to be implemented, and "demonstrated and sustained over a period of time in order that the extremely adverse international economic environment confronting them may be mitigated and a minimal degree of fairness in multilateral trading relations be achieved".-

These cannot be made into a bargaining counter to extract further concessions from the Third World (whether on services or trade in goods sectors), since in effect they would only perpetuate the current unfair trading relationships and adverse terms of trade of the Third Word.-