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Policymakers, academics, researchers and civil society representatives from India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Nepal met in New Delhi on October 27-28, 2005, for the launch of the Centre for Trade & Development (Centad), an independent think-tank on international trade and development in South Asia. They spoke on a variety of topics related to trade and development, at the first South Asia Regional Conference on Trade and Development that marked Centad’s launch. The first South Asian Year Book of Trade and Development 2005, published by Centad, was also released on the occasion. (To read a report on the conference proceedings and send comments on it, click here).
Inaugurating the two-day conference, whose theme was ‘Mainstreaming Development in Trade Negotiations: Run-up to Hong Kong’, Gopal Pillai, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Commerce, New Delhi, said: “It is heartening to note that Centad looks into critical trade issues and I hope that it will make increasingly potent interventions in policymaking of the country.”
He added that given the fact that India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka together make for most of South Asia trade, there should be a specific mandate for Regional Trade Agreements. He also said that South-South trade had nearly doubled in the past decade. “Developing countries have the onus of developing a common agenda and must iron out their inner differences,” Pillai affirmed.
Bibek Debroy, Director, Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Contemporary Studies, pointed to the factors behind the failure of negotiations at Cancun three years ago, and said: “The need of the hour is to call the developed nations’ bluff by showing that we don’t really care about the outcome of these rounds.” Debroy said that it was highly probable that, in the coming years, India’s GDP would grow at 9% per annum, so the “key focus should be on how to mainstream trade negotiations in the development agenda rather than how to mainstream development in trade negotiations”.
Trade and development experts from the region warned that South Asian nations should not pitch their hopes too high. From a ‘one size fits all’ approach, the WTO should move towards becoming a more development-oriented institution, said Dr Saman Kelagam, Executive Director, Institute of Policy Studies, Colombo.
Professor Mustafizur Rahman, Research Director, Centre for Policy Dialogue, pointed out that negotiations between developed and developing nations, with regard to Non-Agricultural Market Access (NAMA), where Least Developed Countries (LDCs) have no formal stake, still imply huge losses to the tune of over $ 200 million for Bangladesh alone on account of preference erosion. Dr Abid Suleri, Assistant Executive Director, Sustainable Development Policy Institute, Islamabad, emphasised food and livelihood security as being central to the Hong Kong negotiations.
Earlier, in his welcome address, Dr Samar Verma, Founding Director, Centad, said Centad’s objective is to create a platform for informed debate and advocacy on international trade issues in South Asia. “We set up this institution a year ago to make trade and globalisation work for the poor, and to ensure that the potential of trade as a powerful catalyst for human development is realised,” he said. “I invite you to share your thoughts and ideas on how we can work together towards our common endeavour of achieving the MDGs (Millennium Development Goals) and, ultimately, to ‘make poverty history’.”
The valedictory session, on October 28, saw an experienced panel of India’s WTO negotiators, past and present, providing valuable insights into the WTO negotiating process. Gopal Pillai warned that “between now and Hong Kong, the media is going to play a very important role. The number of ‘interested articles’ that will now come out will be tremendous.” As an example, he pointed to the recent spate of articles that argued that market access was the panacea for developing countries. The articles did not mention that developed countries would be the actual winners because they would gain ten times more than developing countries would. He cautioned against the “aid for trade mantra”, which was essentially bribes being offered to a few LDCs by some rich nations to get the LDCs to sign on the dotted line in Hong Kong.
Pillai reiterated the stand that no deal is better than a bad deal, and that agriculture and NAMA are going to be the two main issues in Hong Kong. “In South Asia, our cuts (in terms of domestic agriculture subsidies) are going to be minimal because there are no effective cuts by developed nations. After Hong Kong, South Asian countries will have to be careful through 2006 on negotiations on the legal text of what we may gain at Hong Kong.”
B L Das, India’s former ambassador to GATT, pointed out that while both developed and developing countries need coalitions to push their interests at WTO negotiations, developing countries need them far more. “The coalition of developing countries on textiles has been very effective,” he said. Das also highlighted the effective G20 coalition.
S Narayanan, India’s former ambassador and permanent representative to the WTO, emphasised the implementation issue and said developing countries should push for it. “There should be fair implementation of commitments made by the developed countries,” he said.
Press reports on the conference:
S Asian nations cautioned against making ‘political’ deals with developed economies
The Financial Express, Bangladesh
Experts worried over Hong Kong WTO meet
Sify, Taramani, Chennai, India
India seeks improved offers on agri before Hong Kong meet
Hindustan Times, India
Hong Kong failure to benefit none
New Age Business, Dhaka
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