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Trade Facilitation Agreement
The Trade Facilitation Agreement which will create common standards for all 159 member countries is expected to provide for transparency among members with regard to import export and transit procedures with all related information being made available via the internet.
In addition to this agreement being able to streamline and expedite customs procedures, it will be a boon in particular to small and medium exporters and importers as they could even operate from their home computers and access information via internet. The ability to download trading documents off the internet would reduce costs immensely and encourage more small timers to engage in global trading effectively and efficiently.
Developed countries and other aid providers are also expecting to do their part by funding developing countries to implement the agreement. The EU for example, is said to have earmarked around 400 million euros for this purpose.
Although the trade facilitation agreement is undoubtedly a step in the right direction, the question that arises is how long it will take for the agreement to come into force. Two-thirds of the members have to ratify the agreement for it to come into force and those who do not ratify it will not be bound by it. Some are of the view that this process might take about two years.
Considering how much of a sticky point food security was in the negotiations leading to the Bali package, it also remains to be seen how the developing countries will use the flexibility on food stocks given in the package and how quickly they do so. Another question is when members will take steps to operationalise the services waiver for least developed countries.
Post-Bali agenda
The Bali package also leads to the question regarding the post-Bali agenda. The Ministerial declaration on the Bali package has reference to this issue focusing on how to reinvigorate the rest of the Doha Development Agenda. The Bali meeting was expected to give some indication on whether the beleaguered Doha Development Agenda could be moved forward with the limited success achieved in Bali.
As the conference chair, the Indonesian Trade Minister said: “We have crossed the finishing line in Bali, but the race is not yet over. Now we must complete the Doha Round.”
According to the Ministerial declaration, work on issues that were not fully addressed in Bali will be resumed in Geneva in the relevant committees. However, it is not clear whether the WTO will be looking at mini packages like the Bali package or whether plurilateral initiatives such as the trade in services agreement being negotiated by a subset of WTO members, which some feel will derail the entire negotiations, will also be considered.
According to representatives of some developed member countries, issues of major importance to them such as industrial tariffs, multilateral services liberalisation and agriculture market access were not on the Bali agenda.
Reinstated confidence
Many have noted that the Bali package has dealt with only a fraction of the outstanding issues and skirted the most difficult ones. But, the general feeling appears to be that the package has a greater systemic value, which is that it has reinstated confidence in WTO’s negotiating abilities.
Previously too statements have been made to advance the negotiations without results and the only difference this time is that some headway was made with the Bali package which might help give a push start to the other items in the DDA.
However, if the process with regard to implementing the post Bali work program takes even more than two years, the feeling of some trade officials is that the DDA might go into oblivion. How the success in Bali could affect the rest of the DDA remains to be seen and difficult at this stage to predict.
(Manel de Silva holds an Honours Degree in Political Science from the University of Ceylon, Peradeniya and has engaged in professional training in Commercial Diplomacy at ITC and GATT. She has served as a trade diplomat in several Sri Lankan Missions overseas and was the first female Head of the Department of Commerce as Director General of Commerce.)
