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BRIEFING PAPERTHE RETURN OF THE WTO:Why the 9thMinisterial and the Bali paca!e threaten the pe"ple and the planetBy Mary Louise Malig*

After numerous stalled negotiations, many had written off the World Trade Organization(WTO) as the walking dead !as"al Lamy, its #ire"tor $eneral, the former hard hitting leadnegotiator for the %uro&ean 'nion, was for"ed to "on"ede that the WTO was at an im&asse

last #e"emer ++ when the Ministerial was "alled a housekee&ing e-er"ise. /t istherefore no sur&rise that there was not a lot of attention for the u&"oming 0 thMinisterial inBali, /ndonesia 1owe2er, as this &a&er will e-&lain further, this is no time to e "om&la"ent

This Bali Ministerial will e different from the &re2ious oring, housekee&ing. Ministerials /t"arries with it a real danger and threat of not only the return of the WTO, ut an e-&ansionof its rea"h and the laun"hing of new negotiations into new areas

The Bali !a"kage &resents itself as a "on"ession to de2elo&ing "ountries, offering to meetdemands on food se"urity and tariff "on"erns on agri"ulture and addressing the long3standing s&e"ial and differential treatment issues of Least #e2elo&ed 4ountries But withthis "omes a &oison, a deal on trade fa"ilitation, a &re2iously re5e"ted new issue., whi"hnow, not only threatens to drasti"ally o&en markets y rela-ing trade "ustoms arriers, it"arries the threat of the e-&ansion of the WTO, "ontinuing to e-tend its rea"h to areas

eyond trade The Bali !a"kage, if agreed, will mean more oligations for &oor "ountries andwill in5e"t new life into the stalled multilateral trade talks, it will re2i2e and e-&and the WTOand through a domino effe"t, will also e-&and the areas of negotiation in the 6ree TradeAgreements (6TAs) su"h as in the Trans3!a"ifi" !artnershi& Agreement (T!!) After all, theWTO is still the asis for all 6TAs and it is still the only multilateral organization with the&ower to for"e so2ereign states into "om&lian"e through its all3&owerful #is&ute 7ettlementMe"hanism

6urthermore, se2eral fa"tors 8 the "hanged &oliti"al lands"a&e with its new key &layers, thenew e"onomi" reality and a new a&&roa"h to mo2ing the negotiations forward3 ha2e "ometogether for not only the &ossile return of the WTO, ut with the Bali !a"kage, the re2i2aland e-&ansion of the 6ree Trade 9egime as a whole

The Real Threat "# the Bali Paca!e

/n reality, more than the "ontents of the &a"kage, the threat of the Bali !a"kage is that itre2i2es the negotiations and o&ens the door to not only further negotiations, ut also thee-&ansion of the WTO itself Trade 6a"ilitation was a new issue. that was re5e"ted long agoy de2elo&ing "ountries and yet it:s a"k on the tale as the "enter&ie"e of the Bali!a"kage Agreement on this issue, o&ens the door to the other new issues., whi"h e-&andthe WTO "o2erage, that were also re5e"ted a numer of years ago and re2italizes the freetrade negotiations itself, taking it out of its "urrent im&asse

Wh" Wants t" Re$i$e the Ne!"tiati"ns%

The WTO #oha 9ound negotiations ha2e een in stalemate for many years The dead lo"k of

the #oha 9ound led to the stalemate of the WTO negotiations ;ow in Bali they are going totry to agree some elements of the #oha 9ound then mo2e on to new negotiations into otherareas 7e2eral fa"tors "an e attriuted to why they want to re2i2e the negotiations ut themain ones arethWTO Ministerial in 1ong Dong, the de"laration stated, 6. We agree to ensurethe parallel elimination of all forms of export subsidies and disciplines on all exportmeasures with equivalent effect to be completed by the end of 2013..?+C is now halfway

o2er and yet the %' and '7 are nowhere near eliminating their e-&ort susidies And des&itethe fa"t that this &ro&osal is already an agreement from a &re2ious Ministerial #e"laration,there is still o&&osition to it "oming from the largest susidizers

The third element is a &ro&osal also y the $, "entered on the demand of the $ to ha2etighter dis"i&lines on administering tariff3rate Euotas (T9s) /n essen"e, this &ro&oseseasing farm im&orts under tariff rate Euotas as "urrent rules im&ede effe"ti2e market a""essy de2elo&ing "ountries into de2elo&ed "ountry markets This is re&ortedly seen as a&ro&osal that "an e agreed in Bali des&ite some reser2ations on how the me"hanism wouldwork in &ra"ti"e

/3 Paca!e #"r ,east (e$el"ped +")ntries

/n the final s&ee"h of Lamy at the 6ormal Trade ;egotiations 4ommittee meeting last @uly, +C, he &resented the &a"kage of issues for Least #e2elo&ed 4ountries as the firstelement of the Bali !a"kage There are a numer of issues in this area

6irst, under 7&e"ial and #ifferential Treatment (7J#T), there are a numer of issues< the =4an"un &ro&osals, the Monitoring Me"hanism and > agreement s&e"ifi" &ro&osals The =4an"un &ro&osals were originally &art of == &ro&osals that were su&&osed to strengthen the7J#T &ro2isions in the WTO The = were a"tually already agreed efore 4an"un in Cut were not "arried forward after the "olla&se of that Ministerial Today, e2en though, asLamy says, These &ro&osals en5oy an in3&rin"i&le. agreement,. they are still eingre2iewed and a de"ision is yet to e taken on whether they would e ado&ted TheMonitoring Me"hanism, whi"h is also a long3standing demand of L#4s, that would monitorWTO rules 2is a 2is 7J#T &ro2isions, is still at the le2el of "on"e&tual "larity, ut work still

remains to translate this into drafting language.>Then the > agreement s&e"ifi" &ro&osals,whi"h ha2e to do with 7anitary and !hytosanitary Measures, ha2e already een relegated toa &ost3Bali dis"ussion

7e"ond, the ? L#4 issues< duty free Euota free (#66) market a""ess, rules of origin, "otton,and im&lementation of the L#4s ser2i"es wai2er The #66 market a""ess issue was alreadyagreed in the 1ong Dong Ministerial ut ne2er deli2ered

nnex !" #pecial and $ifferential %reatment" &$' greement(specific )roposals"

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36* $ecision on +easures in !avour of &east($eveloped 'ountriesWe agree that developed(country +embers shall, and developing(country +embersdeclaring themselves in a position to do so should"-a* -i* )rovide duty(free and quota(free maret access on a lasting basis, for all productsoriginating from all &$'s by 200/ or no later than the start of the implementation period ina manner that ensures stability, security and predictability.

4otton is also an old issue, another long standing demand of L#4s, whi"h was also already

agreed in the 1ong Dong Ministerial #e"laration and also yet to e deli2ered

11* We recall the mandate given by the +embers in the $ecision adopted by the eneral'ouncil on 1 ugust 200 to address cotton ambitiously, expeditiously and specifically,within the agriculture negotiations in relation to all trade(distorting policies affecting thesector in all three pillars of maret access, domestic support and export competition, asspecified in the $oha text and the uly 200 !ramewor text4.( ll forms of export subsidies for cotton will be eliminated by developed countries in 2006.( 5n maret access, developed countries will give duty and quota free access for cottonexports from least(developed countries -&$'s* from the commencement of theimplementation period./

9ules of origin, is again, also an old demand, whi"h has to do with de2elo&ed "ountries

&ro2iding sim&lified and trans&arent rules of origin so as to fa"ilitate market a""ess fore-&orts from L#4s

The im&lementation of the L#4s ser2i"es wai2er is a demand to o&erationalize somethingthat was already agreed At the ++ Ministerial of the WTO in $ene2a, Ministers ado&ted awai2er to gi2e &referential treatment to L#4 ser2i"e su&&liers

/n reality, all the demands of the L#4s are long3standing demands, with se2eral of themha2ing already een agreed at &re2ious Ministerials ut 5ust ne2er deli2ered And yet, inLamy:s s&ee"h, he &ut the onus on L#4s, saying, 7o, the L#4 Bali &a"kage is in the making,ut at this &oint, the all is in the "ourt of the L#4s / ho&e the L#4s will e fully &re&ared totake forward their &ro&osals after the summer reak.0

The Bali Paca!e is 5ein! presented as a .ay t" *"$e the de$el"p*ental iss)es"# the de$el"pin! and ,(+s s)ch as iss)es "n a!ric)lt)re and special anddi##erential treat*ent6 H".e$er7 the reality is that7 de$el"pin! c")ntries and,(+s are !i$in! de$el"ped c")ntries an a!ree*ent "n trade #acilitati"n7s"*ethin! de$el"ped c")ntries really .ant7 t" e8pand #ree trade int" ne. areasand "pen the d""r t" ne. ne!"tiati"ns7 and in ret)rn7 de$el"pin! c")ntries .ill!et declarati"ns and e*pty pr"*ises #"r thin!s that .ere already in #act a!reedand pr"*ised t" the* se$eral years a!"6 The "nly ne. de*and c"*es #r"* theG// 5)t "ne can already see that de$el"ped c")ntries .ill n"t a!ree t" ana*end*ent "# the A"A and instead .ill "##er hal#0*eas)res and interi* s"l)ti"ns7all "# .hich7 #all sh"rt "# ena5lin! de$el"pin! c")ntries #r"* pr"$idin! lastin!#""d sec)rity t" their s*allh"lder and p""r #ar*ers6

The Ret)rn "# the WTO *eans the Res)r!ence "# the Free Trade Re!i*e

/n "on"lusion, the main reasons the 0 thWTO Ministerial and the Bali !a"kage are a threat tothe &eo&le and the &lanet, are that it rein2igorates the WTO, re2i2es the negotiations, o&ensthe door to new negotiations into new areas and finally, fuels the resurgen"e of the freetrade regime as a whole The WTO has always een the "enter&ie"e of the free trade regimewith its multilateral rea"h and its s&e"ial aility to legally enfor"e and &enalize "ountries inorder to im&lement gloal trade rules The 6TAs will also enefit from the re2i2al of the WTOas all things agreed in the WTO "an immediately e in"luded in 6TAs as 6TAs are essentially

=

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WTO &lus agreements

/t has een += years sin"e the WTO was estalished 7in"e then, "ountless "ases ande2iden"e ha2e een do"umented to show the negati2e im&a"ts of free trade 8 small farmersand &easants losing their lands and li2elihoods due to dum&ing and flooding of "hea&im&orts, fishers dis&la"ed from their traditional fishing grounds, women earing the runt ofthe negati2e im&a"ts on their "ommunities, workers losing their 5os or for"ed to take on&re"arious work as "om&anies "om&ete to lower "osts and families who are for"ed to

migrate to look for work Mother ;ature is also a 2i"tim as free trade treats it as a thing toe e-&loited and "ommodified The multi&le "rises of finan"e, food, "limate, "an all e linkedto the free trade regime and how it has o2ere-&loited the &lanet, &ushing us into this"limate "risis, &oisoning our food and s&e"ulating on &ri"es dri2ing them u& eyond &eo&le:srea"h and letting anks and transnational "or&orations run unregulated &ushing us all intothe rink of a gloal re"ession

The $ "ountries see more free trade, entering new areas in order to "ontinue the rate of&rofit of their "or&orations, as the solution to the "risis And the re2i2al of the WTO is &art ofthis &lan But if we are to ho&e for the future generations and the &lanet to ha2e a future,we need to sto& this now There is not a moment to lose There is no more time for half3measures, if we are to ha2e a "han"e, we need to "hange the system now What we need isnot more free trade, ut rather, a new system, one that is ased on &eo&les: so2ereignty,

e"onomi", "limate, so"ial and "ultural 5usti"e What we need is a trade that is ased on"om&lementarity, solidarity and that has at its heart, the &eo&les: interests and not that of"or&orations We need an agri"ultural system that is ased on food so2ereignty and notased on growing "ash "ro&s for the markets There are hundreds of alternati2es from"ommunities, from so"ial mo2ements, from &easants, workers, women, migrants, fishers,youth and e"onomi" 5usti"e a"ti2ists /t is &ossile to ha2e a world without the WTO, we 5ustneed to make it a reality

It is ti*e t" end the WTO6

+ary &ouise +alig is staff for &a 7ia 'ampesina(sia. +alig is also a policy analyst and has written onthe issues of trade particularly the World %rade 5rgani8ation, the (20 and also on issues of climate

change and the green economy. #he is co(author of the boo, %he nti($evelopment #tate" %he)olitical 9conomy of )ermanent 'risis in the )hilippines and a contributor to the volume on #outheastsia of the seven volume series of #9: and ;

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KWTFM/;()F#%4 #e"emer #oha Work !rogramme Ministerial #e"laration Ado&ted on += #e"emer

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0Trade ;egotiations 4ommittee< 6ormal Meeting< 9oad to Bali mu"h "learer than two months ago 8 Lamy

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