The Doha round

UP and French voters made their ministers work

Despite last minute uncertainties and the resultant extension by a day, trade ministers have pulled it off in Doha. There will be trade talks, beginning in January 2002 and ending in January 2005. There are separate deadlines of 2003 for services and dispute settlement. Given the global downturn, this is good news. Initially, there was the contentious issue of TRIPs (agreement on trade-related intellectual property rights) and access to public health. Developing country concerns were addressed through a declaration that explicitly diluted compulsory licensing and parallel import provisions. In instances of national emergency (to be determined by the country concerned), these can be used to override patent protection on essential drugs. In addition, the TRIPs Council will find a solution (before end 2002) for countries lacking adequate indigenous manufacturing capacity.

Implementation concerns of DCs were addressed through an additional decision, apart from extensions granted on export subsidies. This left market access, especially the contentious issue of agriculture. The last day could thus be labelled as a tussle between French elections and Uttar Pradesh elections, though media reports described India as the obstructionist. Although labour was on no country’s agenda after the change in administration in the US, there was resistance across all DCs to negotiations on environment.

The EU has exacted such negotiations as a price for opening up agriculture, and Mr Maran will face some attack at home for agreeing to club a perceived non-trade issue in trade talks. However, over-reaction is not warranted. All that happens is negotiations on relationship between WTO rules and Multilateral Environment Agreements, with no commitments on countries that are not signatories to MEAs. Some paranoia is, therefore, required to perceive this as the thin end of the wedge. Negotiations on other perceived non-trade issues like transparency in government procurement, trade facilitation, investment and competition policy have been staved off till the Fifth Ministerial. But before there is jubilation, two points need to be made. First, negotiations after the Fifth Ministerial are almost certain, if wording used in the present declaration is interpreted literally. Second, reforms in these areas are desirable and if they are WTO-mandated, that does not make them less desirable. But one can empathise with Mr Maran’s predicament. With the present downturn in the Indian economy, all travails are unnecessarily blamed on the WTO. If Mr Maran can be faulted it is for not making the switch at the appropriate time from an ‘implementation only’ stance to an ‘implementation with new round’ stance, which is what Doha has delivered.