Nov 27, 1984
THIRD WORLD CONDITIONS FOR SPECIFIC NEW TRADE NEGOTIATIONS.
GENEVA, NOVEMBER 23 (IFDA/CHAKRAVARTHI RAGHAVAN) -- Third World countries, in the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade have signified their readiness to propose "specific trade negotiations" in GATT, if the Industrial countries comply with two specific undertakings, reiterated by them in the 1982 GATT Ministerial declaration.-The Third World position has been made known in a statement by Amb. S. P. Shukla of India, on behalf of the "informal group of developing countries", circulated as an official document for the annual meeting of the GATT Contracting Parties (November 26-29).- Before they could propose specific trade negotiations, the Industrial countries should individually promptly implement their undertaking to lift any measures inconsistent with GATT, or not based on specific GATT disciplines, which restrict or have the effect of restricting exports of the Third World to their markets, and refrain from introducing new ones, the Third World group said.- Also multilaterally the Industrial countries should agree to engage in "serious efforts, on a priority basis", to implement all other aspects of the current GATT work programme of particular interest to the trade of the Third World countries, as called for by the group in their joint paper submitted to the GATT Council on May 4, 1984.- If the Industrial countries comply with these undertakings, which include the pending commitments of these countries, the Third World countries "would be in a position to consider, insofar as they are concerned, taking initiative of proposing specific trade negotiations in GATT".-The basic objective of such specific negotiations, the Third World group said, would be "a significant enlargement of access for developing countries' exports to the markets of developed countries".-This would enable the Third World countries "to substantially expand their capacity to absorb a higher level of imports from the latter as required by their development needs, which would be beneficial to world trade in general".- Turning down the idea of trade negotiations covering new issues like trade in services, the Third World group added: "such specific trade negotiations must be confined to trade in goods only, and should cover manufactured and semi-processed goods as well as agricultural and natural resource products and encompass the totality of tariff and non-tariff barriers".-Techniques and modalities for such negotiations should be established to concretely quantify, to the extent possible, the application of GATT provisions on special and more favourable treatment for the Third World countries, the group added.- Third World countries and the smaller industrial trading nations have continued to reiterate their commitment to and their high stakes in the preservation and strengthening of the multilateral trading systems since by definition such a system based on multilaterally agreed rules "provides them an insurance against arbitrary and unilateral action".-Developing countries remain committed to achieving genuine trade liberalisation within the framework of the multilateral trading system which is essential for the welfare and prosperity of all", the group said.- They cannot however, accept that the onus for bringing about trade liberalisation be shifted on to them.- "They believe that preservation of the multilateral trading system is the first necessary step before it can be strengthened. This must be based on certain essential elements which will build confidence and credibility and restore normalcy and symmetry in trade relations between developed and developing countries".- The group noted with concern the further deterioration of the multilateral trading system, and reiterated its proposals of May 1984, for improvement of world trade relations through implementation of the GATT work programme.- Though since then there had been renewed efforts to expedite the implementation of the programme, these efforts have resulted "neither in achieving any breakthrough in the more important areas of the GATT work programme ... nor in ameliorating the adverse situation which characterises their situation severe balance of payments disequilibria, together with stagnating social and economic development".- The group underlined its view, in the May four paper, that unless and until the work programme was fully implemented in the manner suggested by them, "any initiative such as a new round of negotiations in GATT would be lacking in credibility and devoid of relevance, particularly for developing countries".- "The lack of improvement in the position of the Third World countries, the group said, lay in the absence of efforts by the major trading partners to observe even the modest provisions of the GATT Ministerial declaration about ensuring consistency of their trade policy measures with GATT principles and rules, resisting protectionist pressures, and refraining from taking or maintaining measures inconsistent with GATT.- Discussions on implementation of the work programme mandated by the Ministers "would remain an academic and proforma exercise" unless at the session of the CPs the Industrial countries ensured "a standstill on all protectionist measures along with an appropriate and meaningful roll-back", starting with action in favour of the Third World countries.- "The best endeavour clause" in the GATT Ministerial declaration, should now be replaced by "a genuine resolve to meaningfully address the problems of all CPs, and in particular those of the Third World countries, and find urgent solutions for them".- Though discussions on important and contentious areas - such as safeguards, agriculture, Quantitative Restrictions (QRs) and other non-tariff measures, dispute settlement procedures, textiles and clothing, and problems of trade in certain natural resource products - had intensified, "they have reached a point at which only certain procedural solutions could be presented".- There had been virtually no move on the "request lists", submitted by the Third World countries on liberalisation of trade in tropical products.- The Committee on Trade in Agriculture had been able to agree "only on a modest recommendation on the establishment of a framework for further analysis of the objective of liberalisation of trade".- The group on QRs has had to content itself with a recommendation merely to extend its mandate to continue its work.- Though the Third World countries were assured by GATT Ministers that in the work on QRs and other non-tariff measures, attention would be given to the need for action on measures affecting products of particular interest to the Third World, and although a comprehensive list of such products had been identified, "no action has been forthcoming".- The situation in the area of textiles and clothing had deteriorated further.- "And yet, while adherence to the principles of free trade under, the most-favoured-nation clause and rejection of protectionism are constantly proclaimed as generally shared objectives, the international trading environment continues to on the ground due to outright protectionist actions of a general and specific nature undertaken by the major trading partners and their failure to comply with GATT provisions", the group charged.- In addition, the group complained, the attention of the major trading partners in GATT "seems to be focussing disproportionately on new themes, all of which are of doubtful importance and relevance to the GATT system and some even alien to the jurisdictional competence of the GATT".- While progress in implementation of the mandated work programme has not been up to expectations, lack of progress at the same pace on all elements of the work programme "should not be used to block progress on the overall programme", the group said.-_