Transparency troubles
Even after the formation of the WTO, the pestering issues of opacity in the decision-making process and unfair representation of the interests of developing nations continued, and the first two ‘Ministerial Conferences’ in Singapore and Geneva attracted opposition from civil society and NGOs on this front
After the signing of the Uruguay Round Agreements in Marrakesh on April 15, 1994, preparations to transition from GATT to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) began in right earnest. A Preparatory Committee under the chairmanship of Peter Sutherland, the then Head of GATT, was formed for the purpose. The first decision taken was that the WTO would be headquartered at Geneva. The WTO came into existence on January 1, 1995, with the objective to promote free and fair trade, based on the principles of non-discrimination, transparency and progressive liberalisation. Soon after its creation, Renato Ruggiero was appointed the Director General of the WTO in March 1995. The WTO’s remit was much wider than that of the GATT and included trade in goods, trade in services, intellectual property and an independent dispute resolution mechanism. The WTO established the Ministerial Conference as its apex decision making authority, consisting of Trade/Commerce Ministers of all Members and was supposed to meet every two years. It was supported by negotiating bodies for each subject, namely Council for Trade in Services, TRIPS Council, Agriculture Committee and Committees for Safeguards, Subsidies and Anti-Dumping.
The First Ministerial Conference in Singapore (December 9-13, 1996)
Two years after the WTO was created, the first Ministerial Conference was held in Singapore on December 9-13, 1996. There were a lot of deliberations before the meetings began, primarily on what issues should be placed before the ministers. While the Acting US Trade Representative, Charlene Barshefsky, wanted the meeting to be realistic, the EU Vice President Leon Brittan wanted the launch of a new trade round. There was also a debate on whether contentious issues such as labor standards and competition policy should be issues of discussion.
The Conference was attended by 128 countries and issued a consensual Ministerial Declaration. The Ministerial Declaration covered everything from Regional Trade Arrangements to Textiles, Labour, Disputes, Government Procurement, Trade Facilitation, Investment and Accessions. There was also a separate declaration on trade in Information Technology Products which was sponsored by some countries. The Committee on Trade and Environment was also set up during this Ministerial Conference. Apart from this, the accession proposals of 28 countries were taken up for consideration.
While there was a consensus, it was felt that many of the issues of developing countries and LDCs were not considered favorable, particularly, those of market access in developed countries. For example, trade in textiles and clothing did not get much traction after the decision to do away with the MFA in the Uruguay Round. On the other hand, there were a number of issues taken up, which were being pushed by developed countries, such as labour standards, environment standards, investment issues, competition, government procurement and trade facilitation. Of these, the last four came to be known as the ‘Singapore Issues’. On Agriculture also, there was no agreement among members. Even Renato Ruggiero, the DG of the WTO, admitted in his statement that while there was unity among developed and developing countries, it was a fragile one and needed to be strengthened.
It was clear that the Singapore issues were being pushed and led by the developed countries, even before the Ministerial Conference had begun. Developing countries, including India, were not happy that these issues, particularly government procurement and investment, had been included. They felt that including such non-trade issues would give developed countries an unfair advantage, since they already had systems in place to deal with those issues, while developing countries were still developing their systems. On the night before the conference was to end, a small group of 30 countries met in a ‘Green Room’ and were presented with a draft. These included all the Singapore issues. The draft also recommended the setting up of working groups on trade and investment, trade and competition policy, and transparency in government procurement. There was no separate working group for trade facilitation, which would be discussed in the Council for Trade in Goods. The three developing countries in the Green Room — India, Indonesia and Tanzania — objected to this, but were only able to restrict the decision to starting a working group rather than start negotiations. When the draft was presented to the whole membership the next day, developing countries were clearly unhappy at having signed on to a draft not prepared by them and on issues that they didn’t agree with. However, everyone came around on the promises of development issues and technical assistance and in the interests of forging a consensus.
The Ministerial Conference in Geneva (May 18-20, 1998)
The second Ministerial Conference was held in Geneva in May 1998 and commemorated 50 years of the multilateral trading system. In its 11-para declaration, it empowered the General Council to work on the unfinished work of the Marrakesh Agreement, take up fresh areas of work on making trade more liberal, and prepare for the next Ministerial Conference. Another important declaration was to set up a work programme on e-commerce and a commitment by members not to impose any tariff on trade by electronic means.
The second Ministerial Conference was also marked by widespread protests against the work programme of the WTO in the face of increasing global inequality and non-transparency in its decision making. The Director General of WTO, Renato Ruggiero, acknowledged this disillusionment with the WTO and vowed to work with civil society and NGOs to address their concerns. The US Trade Representative, Charlene Barshesky, was however clear that their focus would continue to be on greater market access and more liberal trade, and making sure that commitments made were met. She accepted that this may not be easy for many developing countries and the US was willing to offer technical assistance for this.
The highlight of the 2nd Ministerial Conference was perhaps the presence of many world leaders to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the multilateral trading system. US President Bill Clinton was of course the star, but the most cheers inside and outside went to the Cuban President Fidel Castro.
Conclusion
The birth of WTO was not without incident as noted above. The first two Ministerial Conferences were marked by a lot of opposition from civil society and NGOs and dissatisfaction on part of developing countries. The unhappiness at the allegedly non-transparent processes was not going to die out as the world would witness in the Seattle Ministerial Conference in 1999.
The writer is Additional Chief Secretary, Department of Mass Education Extension and Library Services and Department of Cooperation, Government of West Bengal.
