Nothing to gain, everything to lose
The negotiations leading up to the World Trade Organization (WTO)
Ministerial in Hong
Kong are apparently getting nowhere. The draft ministerial reports
on the state of
negotiations in agriculture, non-agricultural market access, and
services are out, and
while all try to put a positive spin that there is a movement toward
« convergence » there
is very little of that. A close examination of the document shows
that there is
agreement only, on at the most, 10 per cent on key negotiating
points and divergence,
indeed, wide divergence on 90 per cent. When the draft ministerial
declaration does
come out, it is likely to be what the WTO secretariat calls a « heavily
bracketed »
document like the draft declaration for the Seattle ministerial.
