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The 6th WTO ministerial in Hong Kong will be held from 13 to 18 December 2005. An ambitious Doha Round is in the interest of most developing countries. There is however a risk that the Hong Kong ministerial will end in either acrimony, much as the Cancún ministerial did in 2003, or stalemate, given the apparent lack of consensus on issues considered to be critical. These include: - How can the WTO incorporate SDT for developing countries in a rule-based system designed to be non-discriminatory?
- Will the round address the mandate to make SDT more precise, effective and operational, despite problems in finding consensus on the 88 proposals made?
- How can the issue of SDT be linked to technical assistance, support for reducing supply-side constraints and preference erosion (Aid for Trade)?
- What types of gains can developing countries expect from the three pillars of agricultural trade liberalisation, including reductions in tariffs, domestic support and export subsidies?
- Will the deadlock between the negotiating positions of the EU, US, G20 and other groups be resolved prior to the ministerial?
- There are now around 60 countries with GATS offers, but very few African countries have fully engaged in these negotiations. What benefits can GATS bring to developing countries? And how can they best achieve this?
- What progress can be made on issues such as Mode 4 (temporary movement service providers) during Hong Kong?
- What type of effects do we expect from both EPAs between the EU and ACP regions and WTO liberalisation on developing countries?
- How does the expansion of regional and bilateral trade agreements affect the developing countries ability to engage in multilateral agreements?
Tom Slaymaker, Peter Newborne, Sven Grimm and Dirk Willem te Velde
'The prospect of developing countries making commitments on trade in water services under the General Agreement of Trade in Services has given rise to considerable controversy. Subsequent debates have revealed a great deal of confusion and have tended to produce a lot of misleading 'smoke' which makes it very difficult to see where the real 'fire' might be.' ODI Opinions 62, 2 December 2005.
Caroline Ashley and Jonathan Mitchell
'Tourism accounts for more than twice as much cash moving from rich to poor countries than governments give in aid. To make African tourism more pro-poor, corporate and government practice must change.' ODI Opinions 60, 2 November 2005.
Dirk Willem te Velde
An ambitious WTO trade round will benefit most developing countries, but they need to have the tools and time to benefit from further liberalisation.
ODI Blog Posts, 31 October 2005. Comment
Ian Gillson
'The Sixth WTO Ministerial Conference due to be held in Hong Kong from 13 to 18 December, 2005 will shape the future of the Doha Round of global trade talks and the multilateral trading system.' ODI Opinions 50, 3 September 2005.
Dirk Willem te Velde
'The offshoring of services from the richer industrial countries – by which services are relocated to other countries – can offer important opportunities to developing countries. But in order to realise these, they need to fight for export opportunities and counteract theprotectionist feelings towards offshoring of those living in advanced economies.' ODI Opinions 23, 6 July 2004.
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