CHRIST CHURCH, BARBADOS – “The Caribbean is well prepared heading into Cancún”. The Director-General of the Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery (RNM), Ambassador Dr. Richard Bernal, made these remarks at the close of the Second Special Meeting of the CARICOM Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED) on External Economic Negotiations, September 4. The Special COTED was convened in Georgetown, Guyana, September 3 to 4. It was chaired by Hon. Billie Miller, Senior Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Barbados. Caribbean Ministers and Senior Officials with responsibility for trade gathered in Georgetown on the eve of the Fifth World Trade Organization (WTO) Ministerial Conference. Scheduled for Cancún, Mexico – September 10 to 14 – it marks the half-way point for Doha Agenda negotiations, launched at the conclusion of the Fourth WTO Ministerial Conference in the Gulf nation of Qatar, November 2001. The Cancún meeting’s mandate, according to the Doha Ministerial Declaration (Paragraph 45), is to “take stock of progress in the [Doha Development Agenda] negotiations, provide any necessary political guidance and take decisions as necessary.” The COTED was convened for the last time before the Cancún Ministerial Conference. Ambassador Bernal – who headed a team of RNM officials to the meeting in Georgetown – recalled that “Ministers and Senior Officials at COTED reviewed the ‘Draft Cancún Ministerial Text’, considered and refined the Region’s approach to the specific issues addressed therein, including proposals for amendments to the Text”. He concluded, “I am satisfied with the level of preparedness of the region’s Ministers and officials going into Cancún”. The RNM chief stressed “the region has a common position going into Cancún; our concerns and issues are highlighted in the ‘Caribbean Ministerial Declaration on the Fifth WTO Ministerial Conference’ which was unanimously adopted by the CARIFORUM region, August 6 and which was submitted, on behalf of the region by Jamaica, to the WTO August 28” (see: WT/MIN(03)/6, 29 August, 2003). A complement of core RNM staff, headed by Ambassador Bernal, will be in Cancún. The RNM team, which includes the RNM’s Senior Director, Mr. Henry Gill and Dr. Peter Gonzales – RNM Representative in Geneva and Director of WTO Matters, will be on hand in Cancún to provide all the necessary technical support to Caribbean Delegations during what the RNM chief describes as “intense but crucial days ahead”. In reference to ‘slow’ progress in the two years since the launch of the Doha Round, the Ambassador noted “the Caribbean’s Delegates are keenly aware that given the on-going deadlock in agricultural trade reform global trade talks in Cancún could be inconclusive”. The RNM chief cautioned that “the record of achievement in the Doha Round, to date, has been very limited, sharp differences among WTO members remain”. Since the Ministerial Conference in Doha, the WTO has had difficulty in reaching consensus among its members in several key areas of Doha Round negotiations. This has lowered expectations of what the Round could achieve for developing countries. Key intermediate negotiating deadlines have been missed, including, inter alia: Trade related aspects of intellectual property (TRIPS)/Public Health; Special and Differential Treatment (S&DT); Agriculture; Services; cuts to tariffs on industrial goods; and, reforming the WTO's dispute settlement system. Agriculture, TRIPS/Public Health and the so-called ‘Singapore Issues’ have been the source of much acrimony among WTO members. In recent days there has been a breakthrough in enhancing access for poor countries to essential medicines in otherwise lacklustre negotiations. For troubled global trade talks overcoming differences in positions in agriculture, pitting the European Union and Japan against certain developed and developing country agricultural exporters, remains pivotal to the success of the wider round of trade liberalization negotiations within their original timetable. The Chair of the WTO’s ruling General Council drafted a Cancún Ministerial Text, released July 18, to serve as the basis for talks at Cancún. WTO members were quick to signal they wanted modifications to the Text. The most recent ‘Draft Cancún Ministerial Text’ was released August 24. It has still not been well received. A joint letter from the Chair of the General Council and the WTO Director-General, dispatched August 31, to the Chair of the Cancún Ministerial Conference underscores that notwithstanding the ‘Draft Cancún Ministerial Text’ reflecting agreement on TRIPS and Public Health, there is “no basis on which to revise the text of 24 August” and that it “constitutes a workable framework for action by Ministers at Cancun”. Please note: During the period of the Fifth WTO Ministerial Conference there will be regular briefings featured on the homepage of the RNM website – www.crnm.org For More Information Contact: Nand C. Bardouille Tel: (246) 430-1678 email: nand.bardouille@crnm.org
