G90 set to “Coalesce” on Common Platform for Global Trade Talks, in Georgetown

GEORGETOWN, GUYANA – A meeting of G90 Ministers and Ministerial representatives got underway today in Georgetown, Guyana. The two-day meeting is expected to contribute to efforts to revive and give impetus to stalled World Trade Organization (WTO) talks. The objectives of this meeting are to: 1) examine the current status of Doha Round negotiations; 2) explore possible elements of a July framework package; and, 3) decide on the steps that the G90 would have to take between now and the end of July. Hon. Clement Rohee, CARICOM Ministerial Spokesperson for WTO issues and Minister of Foreign Trade and International Cooperation, Guyana, and host minister for the G90 encounter, has characterized the meeting as an important and unique opportunity to forge strong consensus and press forward on a united G90 strategy regarding the WTO’s Doha Agenda. In order to influence WTO talks, the G90 will discuss a common strategy; and to this end, advance a common platform including: Agriculture, non-Agricultural Market Access (NAMA), Development Issues (including Special and Differential Treatment (S&DT), and “Singapore Issues”. Commenting on a G90 platform, Minister Rohee described the G90 as “the largest single group of constituents in the WTO process”. “A common platform would better enable the Group to leverage on-going negotiations; it is expected the meeting would enable us to harmonize, as far as possible, the positions of the G90 constituents in respect of four substantive core issues – Agriculture, NAMA, Development Issues, and “Singapore Issues”. Having arrived at this common platform, we would then be able to mainstream it into on-going global trade talks”, he said. The President of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, H.E. Bharrat Jagdeo, was a feature speaker at the meeting’s opening session, this morning. In his statement, he expressed his confidence in the “solidarity” and “unity” of G90. For his part, in his opening remarks, Minister Rohee described the G90 as a “force to be reckoned with”. Also delivering statements, this morning, were: Brazilian Minister of Foreign Affairs – Celso Amorim; the European Union (EU) representative to Guyana, Suriname, Trinidad & Tobago, Aruba and the Netherlands Antilles, Ambassador Per Eklund; Mr. Stuart Harbinson of the WTO; and, the Secretary-General of the Africa Caribbean Pacific (ACP), H.E. Jean-Robert Goulongana. (The statements are available on and can be downloaded from the RNM website: www.crnm.org) The G90 Meeting in Georgetown, this week, is the first such meeting of the Group. The meeting’s theme is ‘Towards a Common Platform for Development and Prosperity’. The encounter is part of on-going attempts, by WTO Members, aimed at advancing efforts to strike framework agreements, encompassing key issues of the Doha Agenda, by July this year. The G90 Meeting was preceded by a high-level consultation involving CARICOM countries and Cuba, June 2.