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Negotiations, implementation and development: the Doha agenda
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The
Trade Negotiations Committee
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As you know, I warned some time ago that the Round was facing imminent
gridlock unless focused political energy was applied to avert it. I
would say that so far we have avoided the worst, and I very much
appreciate the responsible way in which participants handled the setback
in agriculture at the end of March. At the last TNC, I said I was
pleased to hear many delegations reaffirming their commitment to
concluding the Round successfully and on time, and their determination
to keep on working hard to make progress in preparation for Cancún.
However my fundamental concerns are still there, and my warning still
stands. Avoiding the worst is no substitute for real progress in our
work. Furthermore, we cannot pretend that the setbacks so far have been
cost-free. The problem of negative linkages is still very much with us,
and we must take care that we are not simply postponing the gridlock to
Cancún. The consequences of doing so would be very serious for the Round
as a whole.
We all know that we have other important deadlines coming up at the end
of this month in the Dispute Settlement and Non-agricultural Market
Access negotiations. I hope that all participants will approach these
deadlines with the same sense of commitment that was evident at the end
of March.
In all, there are around a dozen issues requiring action before or at
Cancún following the mandates agreed at Doha, some of which are outside
the negotiations themselves. But all of these issues have something in
common — our aim overall must be to focus our work on what needs to be
done in Cancún to maximize the chances of success thereafter. A clear
priority for our work on all of them in the immediate future must be to
reduce this burden to manageable proportions by reaching understanding
on as many of these issues as possible before the Ministerial
Conference. Those issues which remain outstanding will need to be
presented in a clear and operational manner.
I would like to stress my commitment to facilitate progress across all
areas of the TNC's work. In the first instance, I will, of course, be
continuing my consultations on implementation issues, which I have also
raised in my recent conversations with Ministers.
The importance of the benefits this Round can offer to all participants
is such that we cannot allow any issue to become a roadblock to progress
elsewhere. I urge all of you to bear this in mind in the coming weeks.
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‘Avoiding
the worst is no substitute for real progress,’ Supachai tells
negotiators