Constructive Suggestions
Civil society members come together to discuss and present concrete suggestions to the government regarding Nepal ’s positions on a host of WTO issues
By SANJAYA DHAKAL
Although Nepal has just acceded to World Trade Organization (WTO) a year ago and although it has limited number of experts knowledgeable about this rule-based trade regime, civil society organizations have been regularly trying to educate people as well as the policy-makers about what Nepal needs to do to extract maximum benefit from getting integrated into the global system.
In an important discourse organized last week, South Asia Watch on Trade, Economics and Environment (SAWTEE) and ActionAid Nepal organized a workshop titled “Road To Hong Kong” to extensively discuss and debate the issues crucial to Nepal’s economic development.
The two organizations brought together policymakers, civil society actors, academicians, lawyers and private sector representatives from across Nepal, facilitated the discussion and even adopted a resolution with the intention of helping “the government prepare national position and strategy for a three-day conference of 31 least developed countries (LDCs) to be held in Livingstone, Zambia in the last week of June and to prepare their negotiation strategy for the Sixth Ministerial Conference of the WTO to be held at Hong Kong from 13-18 December 2005.”
The issues discussed during the three-day deliberations included agriculture, non-agriculture market access, intellectual property rights, trade facilitation, environment, development dimensions, intellectual property rights and services.
“The participants of the seminar urged the government to take proactive stance on trade negotiations, rather than being reactive,” said Ratnakar Adhikari, executive director of SAWTEE.
“The 37 point resolution calls for, among others, “need-based” and effective technical assistance and capacity building in order to help LDCs in general and Nepal in particular take advantage of market opening offered by WTO membership as well as through various preferential arrangements,” states the press release issued at the end of the workshop.
Among others, the resolutions suggest Nepal – in strategic alliance with the LDCs - to call upon the developed (and in many cases also the developing) countries to stop subsidy on agriculture; eliminate Non Tariff Barriers (NTBs); bind various preferential trade facilities as well as EBA (Everything But Arms) initiative by the EU at the WTO; push transit as a right; demand effective technical assistance to address SPS (Sanitary and Phytosanitary); allow free movement of natural persons in all categories (skill, semi-skilled and unskilled); expedite the process of reconciliation between TRIPS (Trade-related aspects of Intellectual Property Rights) and CBD (Convention on Biodiversity); restrict patenting of life forms; recognize National Certification System; and so on.
Till recent past, Nepal ’s focus during any WTO discussion used to be centered around the prospects of accession. Now that the country is a full-fledged member of WTO, it will have to present its stand on a host of issues, particularly those close to LDCs.
“In fact, Nepal has selected five priority issues in which it will present its position at the Hong Kong ministerial,” said Prachanda Man Shrestha, joint secretary at the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies, at the inaugural session of the workshop. The five priority areas include Agriculture negotiations; Special & Differential Treatment for LDCs; Non-Agricultural Market Access; Trade in Services; and Trade Facilitation in that order.
“Our aim is to bind the current duty and quota free facilities enjoyed in certain markets into WTO regime, which will enhance the predictability of market access. We want the provisions of Rules Of Origin be realistic, flexible and simple,” Shrestha elaborated.
Dr. Shankar Sharma, vice chairman of National Planning Commission (NPC), opined that for LDCs like Nepal, access to market of developing countries are equally, if not more, important than that of developed countries. Dr. Posh Raj Pandey said that from the perspective of LDCs, the WTO provisions are still unfair and unbalanced. “The issues close to LDCs like agriculture and labor get low priority in WTO discussions,” he said. Dr. Pandey, an expert on WTO, said Doha Development Agenda should be pursued for the benefit of LDCs like Nepal .
According to Adhikari, the resolutions thus adopted will be formally submitted to Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies this week “so that the government will be in a position to factor in the suggestions contained therein during the process of preparing national position for the Livingstone meet.”
It is clear that in order to accrue maximum benefit, the government needs to work in close collaboration with various stakeholders including civil society to adopt its position on various issues at WTO discussions. The initiative by the organizations like SAWTEE and ActionAid go a long way in fostering active interaction among the vital stakeholders.
