India invited to informal WTO ministerial meeting

By Sushma Ramachandran

NEW DELHI, AUG. 10. In a bid to prevent a Seattle-like fiasco at the next ministerial conference of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in November, the U.S. has invited India for an informal ministerial conference of about 15 to 20 countries in September. The aim is to evolve a preparatory draft on the framework for a new trade round by involving the key players in developed and developing countries.

According to the visiting U.S. Trade Representative, Mr. Robert Zoellick, this will give an opportunity for developing countries like India to voice concerns over implementation of issues as well as others at the opposite end of the spectrum like the European Union (EU) to express views on the need for a new trade round and issues like competition, investment and environment.

Clearly indicating that the U.S. has assumed a leadership role to broker a compromise between the North and South, he conceded that some countries are hesitant to commit support to a new trade round owing to concern over the possible gains. Mr. Zoellick insisted that the Caribbean group led by Jamaica was positive about a new round even though the Jamaican Foreign Trade Minister who visited here recently agreed with Indian concerns over implementation issues. As for the ASEAN group, he felt there was support from Singapore and Hong Kong but Thailand and the Philippines were uncertain while others like Indonesia were too engrossed in domestic upheavals to take a stance. China was aggressively positive which was bound to have influence in the region.

On the U.S. standpoint regarding linkage of labour and environment to trade, he said the U.S. President, Mr. George Bush, is ``very very clear'' that he is not going to accept any provisions that will end up being protectionist. The USTR stressed that the present administration is opposed to the approach of the former U.S. President, Mr. Bill Clinton, to link environment and labour issues to sanctions against developing countries. This approach had created tremendous resentment among the developing countries at the Seattle conference and largely contributed to its failure. Mr. Zoellick indicated that the Bush administration does not have to cater to organised labour interests in the U.S. as this is not a Republican constituency. At the same time, it will have to appease Democratic sentiments in order to have the trade promotion authority passed in the legislature. The authority will enable the administration to negotiate in the new round.

The USTR told a group of newspersons that his aim during this visit was to ``listen and learn'' as well as to offer the U.S. assurance that specific implementation issues would be resolved to the extent possible while identifying areas of commonality between the two countries. He had a 45-minute meeting with the Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee, today as well as ``positive and constructive talks'' today with the Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister, Mr. Brajesh Mishra. During his three-day visit, he held talks with senior ministers, including the Commerce and Industry Minister, Mr. Murasoli Maran, and also met the Congress president, Ms. Sonia Gandhi.

Mr. Zoellick felt the proposal for an informal ministerial meeting in September was useful as it would give a chance for all sections to hear their points of view. The Indian stress on ensuring implementation concerns are resolved first could be heard as well as the EU's insistence on a broad agenda. It would bring about transparency and enable some kind of draft to be worked out prior to the Doha conference in November. In contrast, he said the Seattle conference was engulfed with all the working papers of various countries.

In this context, he said the WTO would have to resolve the institutional issue of finding a consensus among 142 members. Regarding the ``green door system'' at Seattle which left out numerous smaller African and Asian countries from the substantive negotiations, he conceded that no surprises should be sprung on this group.

On the vast difference in the agenda between the EU and Japan, he said it would be easier if it had been the same as the U.S. ``But I live in a world of reality,'' he said and reiterated the fact that if India and the Cairns group of countries seek concessions from the EU on agriculture, then some EU concerns will have to be brought on board.

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