(Excerpts from the note circulated by IPCWTO at Cancun on 14-9-03)
T he draft ministerial declaration text [JOB(03)150/rev.2] is all TAKE and no GIVE as far as developed countries are concerned. It renders the Doha pre-condition of “explicit decision by consensus” meaningless and flies in the face of the unambiguous opposition of a large number of developing countries to commencing negotiations on the so-called Singapore issues. …
In regard to Agriculture, the text offers virtually an array of empty boxes which will presumably be filled in leisurely by EU and USA, as they wish, in Geneva. The “Blue Box” remains in tact, with an undefined idea of “capping it”, not knowing how high the peg will be set to hang the cap on and how long it may take to bring it a few notches down. The “Green Box” virtually remains untouchable, with a ritual reference to minimal discipline, if at all. Developing countries will have little defensive mechanism of protection left with them, except a longer time-schedule for reducing tariffs and admittedly a restricted list of Special Products. … As far as India is concerned, the right to impose quantitative restrictions on imports is essential to safeguard the livelihood of seven hundred million people dependent on agriculture and allied occupations. Indian Agriculture is facing an unprecedented crisis. And the draft declaration is totally oblivious of what is absolutely essential to save it from disaster.
On the priority issues of “Implementation”, the draft offers nothing by way of priority… On the issue of Services, the aim of the negotiations has been reduced to “progressively higher levels of liberalization” when GATS itself recognizes the development dimension explicitly and unambiguously. There should have been recognition that provision of services like Education, Health, Water Supply, which constitute the basic human rights, can not be allowed to be commodified and, therefore, such sectors should be taken off from the negotiating process. There is no awareness of this important aspect in the draft declaration.
It is acknowledged on all sides that there is lack of relevant statistics that makes it impossible for developing countries to assess the costs and benefits of services liberalization in various sectors. There is a mandatory provision in GATS for making such an assessment before starting on a new round of liberalization. However, this basic shortcoming is ignored and the negotiations are sought to be pushed at full speed.
All in all, the draft declaration is a blatant exercise in self-serving tactics of the trade majors. What is worse, it shows complete lack of sensitivity to the concerns of the vast majority of the peoples of the world. It deserves to be rejected outright.