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Lamy’s speeches
Report by the Chairman of the Trade Negotiations Committee
Thank you Mr. Chairman.
In my last report to the General Council in October, I highlighted that
the negotiations had started again to move ahead in earnest. Today I
believe that we are closer to achieving the major goal we all share –
establishing modalities in Agriculture and NAMA, which in turn would
pave the way to the conclusion of the Round. It is surely doable and
again we are closer to our goal today, but it is not yet done.
Since my last report, the TNC has held one informal meeting on 30
November. My opening remarks at that meeting were made available to
delegations in document JOB(07)/191, and I would like to underline a few
points I made then.
In my remarks, I gave a brief overview of the progress made in the
negotiations across the board. More progress is needed of course,
starting with Agriculture and NAMA, and we must aim to step up the pace
in all areas, and prepare for the final phase of the negotiations.
The discussion at our meeting was useful and frank. It reflected a
widely shared understanding that substance is driving the process,
starting with Agriculture and NAMA. Securing agreement on the modalities
continues to be our primary focus, but it was also clear from the
discussion the importance that participants attach to progressing on the
other issues in the negotiations. In this respect, the Single
Undertaking remains the basic guarantee to all participants.
The different negotiating issues are moving at their own rhythm and
Chairmen's texts will appear as the substantive discussions in the
Negotiating Groups ripen these issues. It is therefore important that we
keep a sustained pace of work in all Negotiating Groups. I believe that
this is the best way to ensure that all issues receive appropriate
treatment so that they can come to full maturity in time to conclude the
Round next year.
While circulation of the revised draft modalities texts in Agriculture
and NAMA had originally been foreseen in November, it is now clear,
particularly in Agriculture, that a bit more time would allow more
details to be settled, which would allow the Chair to table a more
comprehensive revised text. Both the Agriculture and NAMA Chairs will
resume their consultations in early January, following which they intend
to circulate their revised texts somewhere around the end of January.
The establishment of the modalities should then be about one month
later, which is likely to necessitate a horizontal process – that is,
one covering both Agriculture and NAMA together. We will only know at
what level this horizontal process will need to take place once we have
seen how much work remains to be done to get to modalities.
I think we all agree that the modalities are the gateway to concluding
the Round. Once they are in place, a new phase in the negotiations would
open with three components that could run in parallel: scheduling
agriculture and NAMA, tabling final offers and scheduling in services,
and finalizing the other rule-making parts of the negotiations.
Since our informal meeting on 30 November, work has continued across the
board. The process continues to be text-driven in key areas, and it is
substance which drives the texts. The aim of circulating draft texts is
to give the negotiators a basis from which they can work. The Chairs are
providing their texts to assist the negotiators – that is their role,
and they are well aware that subsequent revisions of their initial texts
will be necessary. This is, in my view, the only way to move towards
consensus.
As I foreshadowed in my remarks on 30 November, the Rules Chairman has
now circulated his draft consolidated texts on anti-dumping and
subsidies and countervailing measures, including fisheries subsidies.
The reactions to his texts have been understandably varied. This
reflects the significance of these texts and the important areas they
cover. It is clear, however, that the Rules negotiations have now moved
to a new level of specificity and this is a welcome development.
In the area of Trade Facilitation, progress has also been registered on
the bottom-up drafting process initiated last month. Similarly, in the
S&D Work Programme, text-based discussions have progressed on the
Agreement-specific proposals and the Monitoring Mechanism, and as we
will hear from the CTD Special Session Chairman later today, he intends
to come back to these discussions early next year.
In other areas, some differences have become more apparent over recent
days, in Services and Trade and Environment, for example. Without in any
way diminishing the importance of the positions involved, I believe we
can see these too as evidence that the negotiations overall are moving
to a more intensive phase.
The high-level political commitment on every side to concluding the
Round successfully continues to be reiterated constantly. It has been
very much a prominent feature of the contacts and meetings I have had
since I last reported to the General Council in October. The challenge
remains to give practical effect to this commitment and to do it without
delay.
While our major focus must remain on substance, we will also have to
keep an eye on the clock. As we all know, time and tide wait for no man.
If we agree on modalities early next year, I believe that we should be
able to conclude the Round before the end of 2008.
Finally, at the 30 November informal TNC, I provided a brief update on
the issues of GI extension and the relationship between the TRIPS
Agreement and the CBD. Since my last report in July, DDG Yerxa has
continued to hold consultations on my behalf in various formats on these
issues. During his consultations, the proponents on both of these issues
proposed language which would provide for a commitment to negotiate in
these two areas. These proposals met opposition from other Members.
After the 30 November informal TNC, Mr. Yerxa has held open-ended
consultations on these issues, which did not reveal changes in
delegations' positions. Mr. Yerxa will continue his consultations with a
view to finding common ground.
That concludes my report.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
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