Collapse of Seattle talks sparks procedure review

Date: 09/12/1999

By Simon Taylor

INTERNATIONAL trade negotiators will examine ways of improving the World Trade Organisation's decision-making procedures after last week's ministerial meeting in Seattle ended without agreement on an agenda for a new round of global liberalisation talks.

The Seattle negotiations collapsed after delegates failed to bridge the gap between industrialised and developing countries on a range of issues including agriculture, anti-dumping rules, labour and environmental standards.

The impasse prompted calls from Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy for changes to the way agreements are struck in the 135-member body, including more high-level political meetings to produce breakthroughs on the more sensitive areas of trade policy liberalisation.

"When you have such complex matters and such a large number of players, a one-week sitting cannot do the trick", he said. "We have to improve the process where ambassadors work on technical issues which are then put to ministers. We need a system to work on policy issues and then hand them over to technical experts."

Lamy's views were echoed by US trade officials. "We do have some serious institutional challenges to deal with," said one.

Diplomats say the failure to agree an agenda for the new round in Seattle was due in part to the difficulty of getting 135 countries to sign up to a complex deal in a very short time. They argue that new procedures are needed because attempts to make decision-making more transparent in response to criticisms from campaign groups have undermined the body's ability to thrash out deals.

"We have a process which is between the old-style 'smoke-filled room' approach to getting a trade deal and a United Nations-style negotiation," said one non-EU official.

Diplomats confirmed that WTO Director-General Mike Moore was already in touch with senior trade negotiators to explore ways of reviving attempts to launch a new round next year. But officials are pessimistic about the chances of getting an agreement in the next year, amid fears that the US will not budge on some of the more sensitive domestic issues until after the presidential elections next November.

Many delegates said US President Bill Clinton's comments in Seattle about imposing trade sanctions on countries which failed to comply with 'core' labour standards had dealt a serious blow to hopes of agreeing an agenda, and accused Clinton of deliberately sacrificing a deal to boost Vice-President Al Gore's support among US labour groups opposed to further liberalisation.

Officials say this makes it unlikely that the next round can be completed by 2003, as originally hoped. "If you want a round in three years, losing the first year is tough," said one.

Negotiations on agriculture and services, which will start in January despite last week's failure to agree an agenda for a full round, are unlikely to make substantial progress, as those under greatest pressure to make concessions - most notably the Union - will have nothing to gain in return.

International trade negotiators will examine ways of improving the World Trade Organisation's decision-making procedures after the Seattle negotiations ended without agreement on an agenda for a new round of global liberalisation talks.