[Opinion] Let`s Initiate the Launch of New Round

As the fourth World Trade Organization (WTO) Ministerial Conference, which is to be held in Doha, the capital of Qatar in early November, is approaching, discussions for the launch of a new round of global trade talks are under way. For instance, meetings are being held day and night in Geneva, Switzerland, and it was also reported that progress was made regarding the negotiation agendas at a recent meeting of the trade ministers from 20 major countries in Singapore.

Most of people will still remember the tremendous shock brought by the Uruguay Round (UR) a few years ago. It is clear that this new round will affect international trade and economy of each country as much as the UR did.

However, it is difficult to say for certain that a new ground will be successfully launched at the fourth ministerial conference since agreement on the major agendas, such as agriculture, environment, and anti-dumping, has not been made yet, and some of the developing countries insist on the implementation of the WTO agreement as the essential prerequisite of the launch of a new round. However, since many countries expect that a new round would be a catalytic agent to boost the stagnated world economy, the final compromise during the last couple of days is likely to be made for the launch of a new round. Especially, a new round is more important for South Korea than for any other countries, since considerable part of South Korea`s economy is depending on trade.

WTO member countries` agreement on the ministerial statement should be made first for the launch of a new round. On September 26, a draft of the ministerial statement, which includes a summary of agendas and direction of negotiation, was distributed to each country. Although there are some positive aspects in this draft from the perspective of South Korea, the draft is also burdensome. It is hard to predict how the draft will change because each country will engage in fierce diplomatic war for the next three weeks to include one`s own interest in the draft.

The draft regarding agriculture is relatively neutral. However, countries called the non-trade concern (NTC) including South Korea, and the Cairns group, consisted of agriculture product export countries, and the U.S. complained about the draft. Especially, the Cairns group insisted that the draft should propose a more decisive direction for the reform of the agricultural products trade because the agricultural products trade is far behind the free trade of the industrial products. On the contrary to this position, countries, which import agricultural products, complained that the draft is too advanced without considering unique characteristics of agriculture. Therefore, nobody seems to foresee to which direction the negotiation over the draft of the ministerial statement regarding agriculture will move on. South Korea should engage in fierce negotiations with the Cairns group and the U.S., by cooperating other import countries such as Japan, Switzerland, and Norway.

The draft of the ministerial statement regarding other areas includes positive contents for South Korea, such as the revision of the anti-dumping agreement, the appeasement of the tariff and duty-free of the industrial products, establishment of the agreement on the transparency of the government supply, and the simplification of the customs procedure. However, since the U.S. is opposing to the revision of the anti-dumping agreement, it is unclear whether it would be included in the negotiation agendas. Regarding the establishment of the multi-investment agreement, in which South Korea is interested, two plans were proposed. One is to begin the negotiation on the investment right away even in the negotiation draft, and the other is to set up preliminary work for the beginning of negotiation. Regarding this, it was reported that countries inclined toward a plan that promotes the agreement among multi-nations in a meeting of the trade ministers in Singapore.

Less than a month is left until the ministerial conference in Doha in early November. Although some argue that the location of the ministerial conference should be changed due to the anti-terrorism war against Afghanistan, every nation agrees that the ministerial conference should be held.

Since the launch of a new round will be beneficial to South Korea, the government should do its best for the launch of a new round even if it has to adjust the selection of agendas or the direction of negotiation. Related ministries should promptly deal with the negotiation of the ministerial statement, which is likely to rapidly progress, by cooperating one another. It is also necessary for people to pay more attention to the new round negotiation, considering it as our issue, not as somebody else`s.

Kim Chul-Soo (President of Sejong University)