Break the impasse

When the WTO secretariat circulated a fresh draft text for global trade negotiations 10 days ago, nobody expected its easy acceptance. It was meant only to be a draft for discussion, of a framework of modalities to be adopted by the general council in its forthcoming meeting beginning today in Geneva.

The objective was to resume the stalled negotiations. To that end, the move seems to have succeeded. For, the process of refining the draft has begun in Geneva.

The new draft reiterates a commitment to the Doha development agenda, blunting the developed countries' bid to shift the focus. However, it also seeks to initiate parleys on trade facilitation, one of the four Singapore issues vehemently opposed by the developing countries at Cancun, leading to the collapse of the ministerial meet.

But since the other three issues (investment, competition, and transparency in government procurement) have been kept out, the developing countries may not mind paying this price for seeking other gains, especially firm commitments from the developed countries about cuts in domestic and export subsidies.

In the case of market access, the draft moots negotiations to evolve a "tiered" tariff reduction formula, as against the "blended" formula desired by the rich nations. Here again, thanks to the explicit statement that progressivity in tariff reductions would be achieved through deeper cuts in higher tariffs with flexibilities for sensitive products, the G-20's views are sought to be accommodated.

The other provisions in the draft that reflect the sensitivities of the poor nations include special and differential treatment as well as special safeguards for the developing countries.