Maran pours cold water on accolades for Harbinson

Rohit Bansal

Singapore, Oct 14: If three back-to-back briefings, by host Singapore’s George Yeo, US trade representative Robert Zoellick, and EU trade commissioner Pascal Lamy on Sunday, were honey to the ears of WTO general council chairman Stuart Harbinson and consensus-hungry trade ministers, India’s “list of disappointments” with the Harbinson draft was a grim reminder of the long road ahead.

Murasoli Maran

Striking a sharp contrast to Mr Yeo’s description of the draft as “competent text that hasn’t just changed the wrapping, but the substance...and has traversed 75 per cent of the journey”, or Mr Zoellick’s “that the draft represented the right balance of interest...a large category that we can accept...(and that it was) good for world politics”, or Mr Lamy’s “that it whittles down the number of issues”, Union commerce and industry minister Murasoli Maran questioned the logic of “mere beautiful words”, that are “full of best endeavour clauses, which (because of being non-mandatory) have no use at all”. Mr Maran caustically dismissed Singapore’s description that a “quasi consensus” had been formulated, in the run up to the 4th WTO ministerial slated for Doha from November 9. “I don’t know if there’s anything called quasi-consensus. Either there’s consensus or there is no consensus,” he said, going on to question the merit of scores like 75 per cent.

“Twenty five per cent (remaining) can become seventy five per cent,” he commented on “such hypothetical scores”, going on to point out “the need for substantive improvement”, “strengthening of language”, and his “strong reservations on the annexures”, including his demand to merge annex 1 and 2.

He also looked unimpressed with proposals to rename a New Round to a more politically acceptable “New Compact” (Singapore’s suggestion) or “New Development Agenda” (Tanzania’s suggestion).

“Is competition and investment a development issue?” Mr Maran shot back, adding “here (at Singapore) 20 countries exchanged views about a draft...that’s all....we want to know the pains and gains,” Mr Maran said on the renaming suggestions, adding that “One can call a rose which should smell, ie, if indeed there is a recognition of development needs, the text should reflect it”.

He admitted that consensus among developing nations isn’t coming easy. Pakistan has invited him to meet under the ‘like-minded group’ in Geneva on October 27, a suggestion he has left on the wishes of all the members.

The other big issue staring global trade ministers here is the doubt expressed by some countries — notably Japan — on the feasibility of Doha as a safe venue.

All four briefings, therefore, evoked a string of questions on whether the Doha ministerial would be held as per plan, Singapore’s Mr Yeo explaining that “there would be no change, at all on the dates, but the decision on the venue is left to the WTO General Council”.

Ministers agreed that a change, if required, would be hugely “unfair to Qatar, given its excellent state of readiness”, but admitted that “emergency locations, including Singapore were discussed”. With Qatar’s sensitivities on his mind, Mr Yeo said, “if asked, Singapore would host the ministerial, with bare facilities”.

Reflecting the undercurrent, a top WTO negotiator advised this newspaper, in all seriousness, to block reservations to Qatar and Singapore as well. Expectedly, when contacted, WTO spokesman Keith Rockwell was dismissive, and said “There’s no meeting of the general council other than on the drafts, for the moment”.

He repeated the exact comment, when asked whether “for the moment” implied that the situation could change. A top WTO negotiator said, “Doha was a venue decided by the council, and only they can make a change, by consulting through the ambassadors (of 142 member-nations) based in Geneva”.

Mr Zoellick and Mr Lamy signalled growing collaboration in the context of the global slowdown. “Trade is the antidote. That the EU and US are sometimes at loggerheads will not mean we will not be convincing others,” the USTR said, sending out the message that another line of alignment will be the APEC.