Openness can unlock stalemate in Doha talks

The current impasse in the Doha round of talks could be unlocked through openness, trade analysts said on Wednesday, pointing to the need for political will to help conclude the negotiations set to resume next month.

“These talks are becoming a global threat because they are taking too long to conclude. As negotiators we need to give a lot of information on what we want,” Jasper Okello, who chairs the WTO research and training programme in Kenya, told a meeting of trade negotiators in Nairobi.

The programme is hosted by the University of Nairobi and advises negotiating teams both within government and the private sectors.

“Today, most people go for the Doha round of talks without disclosing their positions which is not helpful in trying to find a common ground,” Prof Okello said.

Adoption of common positions and sharing the same would help push forward the talks, he said.

Trade permanent secretary Abdulrazaq Ali cited market access and threats of commodity price volatility as one of the biggest concerns for Kenya and the African group in the ongoing Doha talks.

“Processed foods and textiles still attract high tariffs,” he said in a speech read by External Trade secretary Simon Chacha. “The Doha round of talks must provide outcomes, such as market access, that are relevant to Kenya,” Mr Chacha said.

Analysts are optimistic of momentum when the talks resume next month should super powers such as the US provide the goodwill.

“We are optimistic of making strides when the talks resume. It is about building consensus and sharing your interests with the rest,” Daniel Owoko, Kenya’s attaché to Geneva, told Business Daily on the sidelines of the meeting. Kenya and other countries under the African Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) bloc, with huge economic dependence on cut-flower and vegetable exports, scored big last December following a deal between the EU and Latin America that saw duty on bananas from Ecuador, Colombia, Costa Rica, Panama, Honduras and Guatemala cut.

As part of the deal, the EU, ACPs and Latin American governments agreed to promote a common approach to tropical products at the ongoing Doha talks.

Under the deal, developing countries agreed to cut tariffs on all tropical tariff lines currently charged at over 20 per cent by 80 per cent.

Tariffs charged below 20 per cent were reduced to zero.

The tax cuts will be applied to 65 per cent of all tariff lines on an agreed list of products.

For those tropical products covered by the preferential trade agreements of the EU and the US, it was agreed that the cuts will be made over a period of 10 years with no cuts applied by Brussels and Washington in the first two years.

Market access

In the run up to the latest round of talks, African states prepared a demand list of seven points for negotiations with their partners.

Key on the list presented by Kenya on behalf of the African group was the elimination of tariff and non-tariff barriers to trade as well as other trade-distorting practices in the agricultural sector.

The African group was especially keen on the removal of subsidies to cotton growers in the US, among other agricultural commodities.

It also demanded that market access for non-agricultural goods be addressed, arguing that there was need to resolve non-reciprocal preferences in terms of product coverage and the implementation period.