WTO director-general Pascal Lamy has informed all member delegations that the Doha Round draft texts would be out on April 21, just before the Easter holidays begin. The draft would include a series of draft agreements on tariffs, disputes, services, rules, agriculture, Nama, etc. prepared by the chairs of the different sessions.
This will give time for countries to study them, before Lamy calls a Green Room meeting of major players and groupings on April 28, followed by a meeting of the entire membership on April 29, according to reports. The Trade Negotiations Committee (TNC) meeting could be a make-or-break meeting for if the texts are rejected by members it would be futile to call a ministerial meeting in July, as laid down in the road map by ministers at Davos.
This move is counter to what some of the key players advised in the last TNC meeting. Many members felt that the differences between the positions of the key countries were too wide to be breached soon, and also called for a bottoms-up process where the opinions of all members would be taken into consideration. The EU was, however, one of the economies that wanted the texts out by Easter. Members such as the US and Brazil were against it.
Asked for his opinion, former Indian ambassador to the WTO, Ujal Singh Bhatia, says that the issuance of draft texts by Easter does not make sense. Speaking from Delhi, Bhatia said, ?With the wide disparities between the players, and when no flexibility has been shown by the members, especially the key players,it is not the propitious time for draft texts. The Chinese stand on the sectorals in Nama will count. Now, it is no longer an issue of technical negotiations but of political leadership, and that is not evident?.
At the last TNC ?US`s ambassador Michael Punke felt it would be counter-productive to issue draft negotiating texts at Easter, stating ?if we don?t quickly solve some of the problems we are encountering in our work, we will have to reassess whether tabling new texts in late April risks more harm than good.?
According to Punke, ?This is not a time for members to look to chairs to solve problems that they themselves cannot solve. Such an approach, quite simply, will not work. Compromises that do not have buy-in from members obscure gaps rather than making them clearer and can give a false sense of progress. In a similar vein, putting a new date on an old text, perhaps with a few minor changes, will not contribute to progress and risks sparking acrimonious debates.?
At the last TNC China stated: ?With the various deadlines imminent every day, the lack of progress in substance is worrisome.? ?ambassador Yi Xiaoyzhu insisted that China is not the demandeur of sectoral liberalisation, nor does it intend to participate in any sectoral initiative.