DOHA, Qatar – The world’s food-rich nations have agreed to negotiate special treatment for the poorest countries, including possible preferential access for their food products into developed countries.
As part of a new World Trade Organization round of negotiations, WTO members agreed to label it “the Doha development agenda” round.
According to the agricultural text, WTO members have two years to propose how they can help less-developed countries with “special and differential treatment” rules. They will be negotiated and implemented at the same time as the rest of the trade agreements settled in the Doha round.
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Canadian agriculture minister Lyle Vanclief said the emphasis on helping developing countries was good global policy and powerful self-interest.
“The text recognizes special and differential treatment for developing countries, which is incredibly important,” he said in a Nov. 14 interview as talks were winding down.
“We market a lot of what we grow to the rest of the world and it’s like any other business. Your customer has to be as economically sound as possible or they can’t afford to buy from you.”
Many development activists attending the conference scoffed at the suggestion this will be a “development round.”
One Canadian called it an Arabian desert mirage.
The aid agency Oxfam said an agreement to allow developing countries access to cheaper generic drugs to fight disease epidemics, despite patent rules, was a good move.
But on many other fronts, rich countries continue to call the shots, Oxfam said in a statement at the end of talks.
“The rich world’s refusal to halt agricultural dumping or to free up its markets to exports from the least-developed countries is scandalous,” Oxfam senior policy adviser Michael Bailey said in the statement.
“These stark examples of double standards and hypocrisy indicate that the so-called ‘development round’ touted by European governments has been buried in the Doha sand.”
Involved governments begged to differ.
The European Union said development was at the core of the dreams for the new trade deal.
In an analysis issued when the deal was struck, the EU said integrating developing countries into the world trading system runs like a red thread through the Doha declaration, from market access rules to special provisions on development.
The developing countries appeared to agree by embracing the agenda for the new negotiations.
