Cycle of Doha

The Cycle of Doha is a round of negotiations, one three years duration, carried out under the aegis of OMC (World Trade organization). They relate especially to the “Libéralisation of the international business”, and had as objective clarifies the “development” of what one at one time called the “Tiers-Monde”. The interdepartmental conference of Doha (Qatar) took place from November 9th to 13rd 2001, while the fourth ministerial conference of OMC launched a new negotiation cycle multilateral (started within GATT, the predecessor of OMC), baptized “cycle of the development”. Indeed, the main part of the negotiations of Doha related on the Agriculture and the improvement of the access to the markets of the countries rich for the agricultural produce of the Developing country (the DEVELOPING COUNTRIES). Nevertheless, the movement Alter-mondialiste criticized such a liberalization, affirming that this cycle was going only to worsen the Terms of trade between rich countries and poor countries, the DEVELOPING COUNTRIES being transformed into agricultural countries which nourish the countries of the North, which themselves would resell to them industrial products and services with strong Added-value. Besides the cycle of Doha, which was concluded on a failure, the various parts not being able to agree, included an agreement on the ADPIC (Aspects of the intellectual property laws which touch with the trade).

The program of Doha: to liberalize the exchanges

From one three years duration, this program envisages negotiations on the improvement of the access to the markets and on various other challenges to take up for the commercial system:

Improvement of the access to the markets for the developing countries:
# Agriculture: opening of the markets and reduction, then elimination, of all the forms of export subsidies and support interns with agriculture,
# Accès to the markets for the industrial products,
# Réduction or elimination of the tariff peaks and the progressiveness of the rights,
# Suppression of the other nontariff obstacles,
Négociations on the “ questions of Singapour ”,
Declaration on the Agreement on ADPIC on the access of the developing countries to the drugs,
Environment: reduction or elimination of the tariff and nontariff obstacles aiming at the environmental goods and services.

Various parts

One can classify, approximately, in four different parts the States having negotiated within OMC on these agreements, and not having succeeded in besides finding an agreement. Initially, the the United States and the Japan; then, the European Union; then the Group of Cairns (large agricultural countries, Brazil, Argentinian, Australia, the India; in all, 18 countries joining together 1/4 of the world Agricultural production); finally countries of the Third world (or, according to the contemporary nomenclature, the the least advanced Countries (LDC) and the Country in the process of development, DEVELOPING COUNTRY). The failure of the negotiations is due initially to the incapacity for Washington to agree with Brussels, Brasilia, Buenos Aires and other large agricultural countries, having very to gain with a liberalization of the agricultural market.

The failure of the cycle of Doha

Following the permanent and insoluble dissension between the various States in particular on the liberalization of agriculture, the Cycle of Doha is regarded as a failure on July 24th, 2006 by Pascal Lamy, director-general of OMC. July 28th, 2006, the negotiations are officially suspended. However discussions still continue (in Potsdam for example).

Criticisms

FAO (United Nations for the food and agriculture) declared in August 2006 that “the collapse of the international trade negociations of the cycle of Doha primarily due to an attempt of the rich countries, powerful corporations and lobbies to monopolize advantages on the agricultural markets”, regretting moreover that the negotiations were focused on “the free trade, rather than on the Equitable trade”. FAO adds that “the cycle of Doha was without much interest for the least advanced countries, which practically did not obtain anything during the preceding trade negociations on the agriculture of OMC. If the reduction of the subsidies and the agricultural customs duties by the developed countries is done in the interest of the developing countries, it must be applied within a framework which increases the incomes of their small farmers and improves their food safety”. In other words, FAO explicitly criticized the absence of interest of these negotiations, known as “of the development”, for the least advanced countries and the small farmers.

See too

Conflict of the banana
Group of Cairns
Program of Doha for the development
Aspects of the intellectual property laws which touch with the trade
General agreement on the trade of the services
multilateral Negotiation cycles commercial

Sources

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