Lamy's plan

Pascal Lamy, the WTO Director-General,  described a preliminary schedule for this week's Doha Round negotiations today at an informal meeting of the WTO's Doha Round Trade Negotiations Committee (this is the committee established to oversee the Doha Round negotiations for the WTO).

The WTO web site has a press release,  and links to the text of his remarks and audio from the press conference that followed the meeting: Lamy outlines schedule for ‘moment-of-truth’ meetings (WTO website, June 28).

Here's the plan:

The rest of Wednesday 28 June and the whole of Thursday 29 June is left open for members to consult among themselves as many of their ministers and other delegates arrive in Geneva.

Friday 30 June will begin with a brief small-group consultation among some ministers and their representatives.  [I assume these small-group meetings are the crucial "green room" negotiations among representatives of key delegations, coalitions, and interests - Ben] After that, a pattern is set that could be followed through the weekend. Another informal meeting of the Trade Negotiations Committee, which comprises all WTO members, will take place, still in the morning.

The afternoon will be left for various consultations, including for delegations participating in small-group meetings to share information and hear reactions from the coalitions they represent.

In the evening a smaller “ministerial consultative group” will meet. This will be “along the lines of the group that met in Hong Kong, and … largely representative of the membership”, Mr Lamy told delegates.

Although the schedule can vary, a similar pattern could be followed on subsequent days, following a “fairly regular rhythm”, he said.

All agree that “every effort must be made to ensure a transparent process, underpinned by constant information flow,” Mr Lamy told delegates. The responsibility is shared, he stressed.

“I have urged all those who have participated in … consultations over the past few days to share what has been discussed with those not present at these meetings. Managing these negotiations is our collective responsibility, and while we all recognize that small-group meetings are useful in making progress, we have to avoid any notion of a privileged class.”

 
Substance

The discussion will focus on a number of issues “considered key” in agriculture and non-agricultural market access. This is designed to provide a suitable sequence and does not mean that these issues are priorities, Mr Lamy said

At his press conference, he compared the process to building a cathedral. The first step is to make sure the three key pillars are tall enough (i.e. further offers to cut agricultural tariffs, domestic support in agriculture and industrial tariffs) so that the rest of the construction can be added on. All parts are important but the pillars have to be right first.

Each of the two main subjects will be handled in two rounds.

For agriculture the discussions will concentrate first on: in market access, the formulas for cutting tariffs, the number and treatment of sensitive and special products (which will be given flexibility to deviate from the formulas), and the special safeguard mechanism for developing countries; in domestic support, the overall reduction in trade-distorting domestic support, reductions in the Amber Box (most distorting subsides), Blue Box (less distorting subsidies) and de minimis (minimal amounts of permitted distorting subsidies), and disciplines on the Amber and Blue boxes and cotton.

The second round would deal with: export subsidies and other export competition issues; in market access, putting caps or ceilings on tariffs, the present special safeguard, tropical products, the erosion of preferences, countries that recently joined the WTO, and least-developed countries; and the Green Box (domestic supports that do not distort trade or do so minimally).

Replying to comments from some countries making proposals on small and vulnerable economies, Mr Lamy said this issue has not been listed at this stage in agriculture because unlike for industrial products, there are more issues to be sorted out first before members can consider whether extra flexibility is needed for these countries, including smaller cuts under the tariff formula for developing countries, and other questions such as sensitive products, special products and the special safeguard mechanism.

For non-agricultural market access (NAMA) the For non-agricultural market access (NAMA) the focus will first be on: the formula and coefficients (numbers applied to the formula that determine how steep the cuts will be and what the maximum final tariffs will be); the treatment of tariffs that are not currently committed (or “bound”) in the WTO; and flexibilities for developing countries subject to the formula.

Next would come: duty-free and quota-free market access for exports from least-developed countries; flexibilities for developing countries with a low proportion of products bound in the WTO; small and vulnerable economies; recent new members; non-reciprocal preferences; and the implementation period.

This post supplements one I did June 27 on the program: This week's Doha Round ministerial meeting.

For additional information about the schedule, see this very useful story by Martin Khor: "Sequencing the Ministerial" and Scenarios of the Stages it has to Clear (Third World Network, June 27).  Khor has lots of very concrete detail on who may be meeting when, and why it may matter.

Revised to add Khor link on June 28.