Rocking the WTO boat once again

Introduction

Some developed countries have started rocking the WTO boat once again. European Commission (EC, Japan and Switzerland) have given proposals for drastically changing the format of WTO services negotiations that can have reverberations beyond this area and may even threaten the smooth passage of the Hong Kong Ministerial Conference in December this year. It appears to be a well coordinated exercise and may result in diverting the attention from important areas like agriculture. These proposals appear to be inconsistent with the provisions of the WTO services agreement (General Agreement on Trade in Services, GATS) and seek to bind down the developing countries to commitments constraining their flexibility in development policies. They are of no advantage to the developing countries in any way, not even to those that perceive opportunities in their service sector export. The following analysis attempts to explain the implications of these proposals given in the services negotiation in the WTO in September 2005. But first it will be relevant to give some background.

Echoes of the past