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By Sushma Ramachandran
Outlining his perspective on the Doha development round of trade negotiations, he told The Hindu in a written reply to questions that the Cancun ministerial was likely to define the direction of the journey towards a destination that would hopefully be reached over a year later. The results from the meeting should point to a reaffirmation of the multilateral trading system being "non-discriminatory, rule-based, stable, predictable and equitable.'' Secondly, the process should provide flexibility to the developing countries for implementing socio-economic policies and enable trade to be an engine of growth. Increasingly relegated to the sidelines of multilateral trade negotiations after the formation of WTO, UNCTAD has always had a greater focus on the issues and needs of the developing countries. In its newly crafted role, it is seeking to look at the "development dimension'' of issues taken up at the trade negotiations. "Our role is to assist developing countries in their integration in international trade and the international trading system in a development friendly way," according to Mr. Ricupero. Conceding that several deadlines have been missed on the way to Cancun, he said the important thing was to get it right in terms of orientation. He urged developing countries to engage proactively in the Cancun conference as a stocktaking exercise and a direction setting one. This way, they could better ensure that their concerns and interests were adequately reflected. On the proliferation of regional trading arrangements, he expressed concern over the trend that could undermine the WTO or the multilateral trading system, which was the growing appeal of bilateral and regional trading arrangements (RTAs) especially those concluded by major trading nations. "They can lead to an erosion of the cardinal principles of non-discrimination and MFN (most favoured nation) treatment under GATT/WTO. They could also encourage "forum shopping'' for eliciting WTO plus or minus concessions,'' he felt. Mr. Ricupero felt that it was important to ensure that RTAs were a building block and not a substitute to the WTO. He was aware that countries such as India shared his concern as they had been confronted with several preferential agreements affecting their exports. Highlighting the key issue of market access for the developing countries, he said the success of the present round of trade negotiations depended on the way it tackled these demands and corrected persisting asymmetries. Specifically on the agreement on textiles and clothing (ATC), he said that for the developing countries with a major stake in textiles exports such as India, the credibility of the multilateral trading system was at stake. There had been a proliferation of "contingent protective measures" against textiles products prior to the phase out deadline of 2005. This was "a disquieting development" which if not reversed could undermine the efficacy of lifting quotas under the ATC Agreement. In this context, he felt developing countries have a strong case to press for special and differential treatment for improving rules and disciplines on contingent protective measures. On other areas of concern for the South, the UNCTAD chief referred to the tariff peaks and escalations that still affect many products of export interest to the developing countries, including India. He proposed that "sensitive products" such as processed agricultural products and commodities, garments, leather goods, footwear and rubber products should be dealt with effectively as part of the Doha work programme.
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