BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (CMC):CARIBBEAN COUNTRIES fear that efforts to hold talks at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) level to bridge the gap between developing and developed countries will not be completed as scheduled in April.
"WTO talks are at a crossroads, because of the strong possibility of missing the April modalities deadline," said Guyana's Foreign Trade Minister Clement Rohee.
The Barbados-based Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery (CRNM) said that in recent weeks, "prospects for reaching 'full modalities' have dimmed".
"In fact, immediately following last December's WTO Ministerial, there were concerns about whether the setting of an April deadline might in fact have been too optimistic," CRNM said.
Agriculture and Non-Agricultural Market Access (NAMA) meetings at the WTO are due to end on Saturday, and CRNM said, "It has become apparent that members are unable to resolve divergences, to the chagrin of the respective Chairs of those Negotiating Groups".
NOT SURPRISING
"The inability to move forward in the formal WTO negotiating process is not surprising, as the G6 (countries) themselves, who represent a cross-section of trading interests in WTO talks, reflecting a combination of offensive and defensive approaches in respect of core Doha Round issues, remain far apart on the 'core issues'."
CRNM said "this paralysis in G6 efforts to come to a consensus on agriculture and NAMA has effectively brought the formal negotiating process to a standstill".
It warned that until this impasse amongst the G6 is overcome, movement in the formal setting of agriculture and NAMA negotiations in the WTO proper would remain elusive, as evidenced by this week's lacklustre Agriculture and NAMA Week.
"Consensus amongst this group would set the stage for or at least the enabling environment essential to advancing some manner of consensus, sufficiently ambitious enough to facilitate 'full modalities'."
"At the root of the G6 quagmire is that the respective trade-offs within the agricultural and industrial goods talks, respectively, and across the two 'core issues' are not yet acceptable to the parties concerned, and in some cases the positions have hardened. Achieving compromise acceptable to all is the stumbling block," CRNM said.
