Collapse at the WTO: A Cancun post-mortem

Third World Quarterly

Volumn 25, Issue 3, 2004, Pages 447-460

  Narlikar, Amrita ^a   Wilkinson, Rorden ^a  

^a NONE

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

DEVELOPING WORLD; INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK; WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION;

EID: 4844229454     PISSN: 01436597     EISSN: 13602241     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/0143659042000191375     Document Type: Article

References (31)

1. Arvind Panagariya, quoted at http://www/brettonwoods.org/ agtradeO9O3.html.
2. See the architectural similarities between the gatt and the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), the Agreement on Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), and the Agreements on Agriculture, and Textiles and Clothing.
3. Amrita Narlikar, 'WTO decision-making processes and developing countries', trade Working Papers, No 11, Geneva: South Centre, 2001, at www.southcentre.org.
4. See Amrita Narlikar, International Trade and Developing Countries: Bargaining Coalitions in the gatt & wto, London: Routledge, 2003.
5. One of the 'successes' of the meeting was the approval of membership protocols of Cambodia and Nepal, paving the way for their accession to the WTO.
6. Green Room meetings are small group meetings, called at the initiative of the Director General. On average, about 20 members are invited, and these almost always include the Quad (Canada, Japan, the EU, the USA). These meetings attracted a great deal of controversy, particularly in the aftermath of Seattle, for their exclusionary character and secrecy, precipitating some efforts at small-scale reform.
7. See Fatournata Jawana & Aileen Kwa, Behind the Scenes at the WTO: The Real World of International Trade Negotiations, London: Zed Books, 2003.
8. Telephone interviews with delegates from developing countries, 2-3 October 2003.
9. The Singapore issues are Investment, Government Procurement, Trade Facilitation and Competition Policy. They are so called because agreement was reached at the WTO's first Ministerial Meeting in Singapore (9-13 December 1996) on exploring the possibility of extending the organisation's remit into these areas at some future point. See WTO, 'Singapore Ministerial Declaration', 13 December 1996, paragraphs 20-23.
10. In his closing press conference at the Cancun meeting (14 September 2003) Pascal Lamy reiterated his view that the WTO's procedures are mediaeval - a view he first aired in the aftermath of the Seattle Ministerial meeting.
11. JOB (03)/150, 24 August 2003.
12. The original Group of 9 (net food importing states) comprised Bulgaria, Israel, Norway, Switzerland, Iceland, Korea, Japan, Liechenstein and Taiwan.
13. For an analysis of the problems with the draft from a developing country perspective, see http://www.investmentwatch.org/articles/ gu27august.html; also interview with delegates from developing countries, Cancun, 9-12 September 2003.
14. Note that the bugbear of the Cancun conference had been agriculture and several commentators have expressed some surprise at the fact that Derbez attributed the impasse to differences on the Singapore issues rather than to agriculture. The differences on Singapore issues, however, were a direct result of inadequate institutional mechanisms and clarity, and thereby also precipitated the angry walk-outs staged by different countries.
15. The five facilitators were: George Yeo Yong-Bong (agriculture, Singapore); Henry Tang Ying-yen (non-agricultural market access, Hong Kong); Mukhisa Kituyi (development, Kenya); Pierre Pettigrew (Singapore issues, Canada); and Clement Rohee (miscellaneous issues, Guyana).
16. Telephone interviews, September-October 2003.
17. A coalition of 20 countries, led by Brazil, China and India, had put forth a draft on agriculture as a reaction to the EU-US draft that had fallen far short of the expectations of developing countries. See the Joint proposal by Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, India, Mexico, Pakistan, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, South Africa, Thailand and Venezuela. wTo Document WT/MIN(03)[W/16, 4 September 2003. The G-20 later became the G-22 with the addition of Egypt and Kenya. A second alternative text on the proposed framework on agriculture was submitted to the meeting on 14 September 2003. For an example of reporting on the controversial role of the Facilitators, see http://in.rediff.com/money/ 2003/sep/15wto3.htm.
18. Interview with a delegate from a developing country, Cancun, 12 September 2003.
19. Interviews, September-October 2003.
20. The Economist, 20 September 2003
21. and telephone interview, 3 October 2003.
22. Telephone interview, 2 October 2003.
23. Interview with developing country delegate, 12 September 2003.
24. TRIPS is indeed one such area: Most developing countries agreed to sign it in the Uruguay Round with scarce understanding of what the agreement actually meant.
25. Rorden Wilkinson, 'The WTO in crisis: Exploring the dimensions of institutional inertia', Journal of World Trade, 35 (3), 2001, pp 40O-406.
26. See wto, Doha Ministerial Declaration, WT/MIN(01)/DEC/l, 20 November 2001.
27. Such fears had been voiced to the authors as early as May 2003 in interviews with delegates. The Blair House Accord refers to the compromise agreement that was reached between the EC and the USA in 1992 on agriculture. It fell far short of the expectations of the Cairns Group and continues to be cited as an example of collusion between the EC and the USA and the exclusion of developing countries.
28. Bridges Weekly Trade News Digest, 28 July 2003, at www.ictsd.org/weekly/ 03-07-28/story4.htm.
29. Amrita Narlikar & John Odell, 'The strict distributive strategy for a bargaining coalition: The Like Minded Group and the World Trade Organization', paper presented to the Research Conference on Developing Countries and Trade Negotiations, UNCTAD, Geneva, 6-8 November 2003.
30. TN/AG/GEN/4, Poverty Reduction: Sectoral Initiative in Favor of Cotton, 16 May 2003.
31. See John Odell, Negotiating the World Economy, Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2000.