while addressing the session “’Trade: does the Bali outcome hold promise for the future” at an International Conference on “Global Economic Recovery: Asian Perspectives,” organised by International Chamber of Commerce, Bangladesh, on 26 October 2014.
More news reports on the event
Published in Dhaka Tribune on Monday, 27 October 2014.
WTO Bali package offers little hope for LDCs
Syed Samiul Basher Anik
The observation came at a session titled ‘Trade: does the Bali outcome hold promise for the future?’
The last ministerial meeting of World Trade Organisation in Bali, Indonesia has failed to take any measures for the Least Developed Countries in the wake of distrust of the negotiation process, experts told a conference in Dhaka yesterday.
They observed that developed countries dominate the negotiation process in any contracts, thereby hardly taking into account the interests of LDCs.
The observation came at a session titled “Trade: does the Bali outcome hold promise for the future?”
The session was organised as part of a two-day ICC International Conference on “Global Economic Recovery: Asian Perspective” at a city hotel.
The experts said LDCs need to develop their expertise to debate at such platforms as to achieve goals.
The Bali package created a hope to us and then it turned to anger and disappointment, said Barbara Meynert, director of Fung Global Institute, Hong Kong.
The World Trade Organisation (WTO) should be a platform where people can negotiate, Barbara added.
In his address, Bangladesh International Arbitration Centre (BIAC) Chief Executive Dr Toufiq Ali said the multilateral trade rules are designed only for the developed countries and so in trade negotiations, the interests of developed countries are taken care of as they dominate.
“The developing countries, however, have now major shares in trade and so they need to develop expertise to take advantage from such discussions.”
Bangladesh needs to be very careful at multilateral discussions and is required to develop its expertise to achieve goals, said Toufiq, also former ambassador and permanent representative of Bangladesh to UNCTAD, WTO.
The last ministerial meeting of WTO at Bali apparently reached consensus on some issues, but even these seem to be in risks now.
There has been an explosion of bilateral and regional preferential and free trade agreements that are at once both causes and consequences of the long-drawn process at WTO.
Such arrangements in the package put the trade and commerce of excluded nations at disadvantage, thus reducing the benefits of liberalised trade.
Taffere Tesfachew, director of the division on Africa, Least Developed Countries and Special Programmes, said a transparent and predictable system along with timing is needed to help LDCs in Bali agreement.
Policy Research Institute (PRI) of Bangladesh Chairman Dr Zaidi Sattar said there are two oncoming mega trade and investment partnership agreements – Trans Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) and Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP).
“Along with the two, Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) is a possible opportunity for Bangladesh and this is what Bangladesh should look to,” he said, adding that RSEP is going to be a partnership between ASEAN and 10 countries including India and China.
Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) Executive Director Mustafizur Rahman said trade facilitation in WTO mainly focuses trade and customs facilitation, but it does not talk about infrastructural facilitation which is actually necessary.
“The trade facilitation does not focus infrastructure which is needed for trade facilitation. So, there is hardly any coherence and the need is to ensure coherence in global system. We just do not talk about WTO only, but also other global multilateral systems,” he said.
“Where are compensatory mechanisms we need in WTO system for LDCs?” Mustafizur Rahman posed a question.
“WTO should become a part of solutions, not a part of problems.”
Former Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association President Anwar-Ul-Alam Chowdhury pointed that the ready-made garments is not getting access with duty free quota system.
“Some 8,600 products were given duty free, but not those of RMG in which we hold strong position in export. That has been done intentionally. The LDC countries have potentialities that should be taken into consideration. There should not be any eyewash,” he said.
Sunil Bahadur Thapa, commerce and supplies minister of Nepal, who chaired the session.
He said timing is important for such agreements.
Published in The Daily Star
LDCs still in the dark about Bali package
Star Business Report
Least-developed countries (LDCs) are still unsure whether the recommendations of WTO’s Bali round of conference will be adopted or not, as the developed and developing countries are failing to reach a consensus.
At the ninth ministerial meet of the World Trade Organisation held in Bali in December last year, a consensus was reached on three important issues: trade facilitation, food security and LDC package.
The developed countries were supposed to adopt them in July this year, but they are yet to give final approval for differences in opinions.
Separately, two major deals between developed and developing nations — Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership and Trans Pacific Partnership — are going to be signed, said Zaidi Sattar, chairman of the Policy Research Institute, said.
“The LDCs might face troubles in trade for this.”
His comments came at a discussion styled ‘Does the Bali outcome hold promise for the future’ as part of the International Chamber of Commerce Bangladesh’s two-day conference.
“We need to assess the impacts, if those trade agreements are signed,” said Mustafizur Rahman, executive director of the Centre for Policy Dialogue.
Toufiq Ali, chief executive of Bangladesh International Arbitration Centre, said the WTO is very valuable for the people of the world.
For example, thanks to the various agreements under the WTO, the prices of different drug items are cheaper in the LDCs than in the developed and developing countries.
Published in The Financial Express
Though frustrating for LDCs, Bali Package benefits Dhaka
FE Report
Speakers at a discussion on Sunday said though the WTO Bali Package was frustrating for least developed countries (LDCs), it was beneficial to Bangladesh.
They said the most important part of the Bali accord was its perfect-timing in the backdrop of the global plan on transition from millennium development goals (MDGs) to sustainable development goals (SDGs).
They were speaking at the business session-two of the two-day ICC (International Chamber of Commerce) conference at a city hotel.
Nepalese Commerce and Supplies Minister Sunil Bahadur Thapa chaired the session while Chief Executive of Bangladesh International Arbitration Centre (BIAC) Dr. Toufiq Ali, Director of the Division on Africa, Least Developed Countries and Special Programmes of World Trade Organisation (WTO) Taffere Tesfachew, Chairman of Policy Research Institute of Bangladesh ((PRI) Dr. Zaidi Sattar and Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) Executive Director Dr Mustafizur Rahman spoke on the occasion.
Director of Fung Global Institute of Hong Kong Barbara Meynert, former President of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers & Exporters Association (BGMEA) Anwar-Ul-Alam Chowdhury Parvez and Director of National Committees of ICC Headquarters in Paris François-Gabriel Ceyrac spoke as discussants.
The Bali Package is a trade agreement resulting from the Ninth Ministerial Conference of the WTO in Bali, Indonesia held on December 3-7, 2013. It is aimed at lowering global trade barriers and it is the first agreement reached through the WTO. The package forms part of the Doha Development Round, which started in 2001.
Dr. Toufiq Ali said LDCs had to question domination of developed countries during negotiation at the multilateral trade discussion.
He said WTO was still very valuable for international dispute resolution but the global forum was failing to do what it was supposed to do.
Taffere Tesfachew said the Bali Package was held at a perfect time and the focal point of the discussion was trade facilitation.
He said trade played a very important role in eliminating poverty across the world and trade helped millions of people come out of poverty.
He said the new SDGs were targeting elimination of poverty from the world within 15 years. He termed a very challenging task. Trade facilitation would help the world to do so, he added.
Dr Zaidi Sattar said Bangladesh is one of the biggest beneficiaries of the trade facilitation which was the outcome of the Bali meeting.
He said trade pushes growth, growth creates jobs and job creation alleviates poverty and, thus Bangladesh has been a beneficiary of trade.
Professor Mustafizur Rahman said WTO meetings discuss only regulatory issues and customs-related issues, which are related to trade. But there are many issues that remain left out like infrastructure.
He said the Bali outcome was totally frustrating, though it is a fact that Bangladesh has greatly benefited from rules-related trade facilitation.
He said trade liberalisation cannot make a country developed one, there are many other aspects a developed country should deal with.
He predicted that Bangladesh would still remain an LDC country, even it graduates from the current status by 2021.
Barbara Meynert said the Bali meeting created distrust among the countries.
“But we still have to be hopeful afresh for a new beginning,” she said.
François-Gabriel Ceyrac said it was not right that everything in Bali accord was frustrating; there were some special measures taken for the least developed countries.