The WTO’s 147 member governments approved on 1 August 2004 a package of framework and other agreements on the Doha Agenda work programme. In WTO’s words, the package is ’designed to focus the negotiations and raise them to a new level’.
The package deals with a number of ¨hot¨ topics such as agriculture, cotton, non-agricultural market access (NAMA), special and differential treatment (SDT), development and trade in services.
The package is the result of long-lasting negotiations by five key WTO members, the so-called non-group of 5 (NG5): India, the US, European Union, Brazil and Australia, and has been heavily criticised by NGOs all over the world both as far as the negotiations methods and the content are concerned.
The text to be discussed by all countries has in fact been discussed and drafted by a limited number of member countries. Public Citizen defined the process as ¨secretive and unworkable, with many WTO nations excluded from critical talks¨.
Agriculture was the biggest issue on the table. The issue of the elimination of export subsidies is at stake - annex A to the package sets a ¨Framework for Establishing Modalities in Agriculture¨. Hervé Gaymard, France’s agriculture minister, said he would seek a ¨proper¨ timetable for the cuts in export subsidies. ¨One can look towards a horizon of 2015 or 2017¨.
The agreement of cutting agricultural subsidies and other aid to farmers from rich countries is in return for developing countries opening markets for services and manufactured goods.
WTO website page
Public Citizen press release
World Development Movement press release
