Trade Briefing: WTO`s DDA Mini-Ministerial Negotiations 21-26 July 2008 in Geneva, Switzerland

Starting Monday 21st July 2008 over 40 world trade ministers from major protoganist countries in the DDA gathered in Geneva Switzerland to salvage the Doha Development Agenda launched 7years ago in the Qatar capital Doha.

Throughout this week, ministers will struggle to find consensus on the modalities (formulas and othe mechanisms) on how to liberalise trade in the two basic "pillars" of the Round- trade in agricultural and industrial goods. Later in the week, ministers will move into other essential areas of the Round like trade in services, rules and intellectual property rights to ensure that the outcome keeps within the realms of the basic principle of the WTO of "Single Undertaking" which spells that "nothing is agreed until everything is agreed".

Stakes are high, to some this is the last opportunity to avert the threat facing the multilateral trading system, which has seen its recent increasing irrelevance due increasing prominence of bilateral and regional trade agreements among major trading powers and major trading powers with small developing and poor countries.

The dynamics are that advanced developing countries led by India, Brazil, South Africa, largely agricultural producers are asking Developed Countries (Especially U.S. and the EU) to take bold steps and liberalise their agricultural goods markets, cut their overall trade distorting domestic support (OTDS) and eliminate export subsidies on agricultural exports. While Developed Countries are calling for an ambitious market opening for industrial goods on part of these developing countries.

Overall, the developing countries have insisted that an ambitious outcome of the Round should be seen in the context of the Round being a Development Round and interpreted in the context of the Hong Kong Ministerial decision of " less than full reciprocity" in favour of the developing and least developed countries.

By close of business on Monday 21 July, the EU had come foward and offered to cut its farm tariffs by 60 percent from the previous 54 percent they had stuck on, Peter Mendelson EU Trade Commissioner said that the EU was "kick starting a week of crunch-talks on a new global commerce pact"!

While the U.S. has largely indicated that they are waiting to see the contribution of others especially when it comes to advanced developing countries of India, Brazil, South Africa and China! U.S. insists that these countries must open their industrial goods market in return for its cutting its domestic support programmes (farm subsidies).

The big powers of U.S., Japan,and the EU are largely pushing the developing countries to open more of their markets for industrial goods by substantially cutting tariffs while the developing countries are targetting agricultural markets for the highly protected agricultural commodities like rice, beef and wheat in Japan, EU and U.S. markets.

This blog will be following the progress of the negotiations closely and will constantly be updated with respect to the progress, please check regularly for the updates and leave a comment!