1.0       INTRODUCTION

The Southern and Eastern African Trade Information and Negotiations Initiative (SEATINI) Workshop was held in Harare from 30th March to 4th April under the auspices of the International South Group Network (ISGN). It was facilitated by resource persons with wide experience in international trade issues.

The Workshop, which was aimed at initiating a process of strengthening the capacity of African trade negotiators, was attended by senior trade negotiators from seventeen (17)  Eastern and Southern African (ESA) countries. Other participants were from non-governmental organisations (NGOs) as well as the civil society.

The Honourable N. Shamuyarira, MP., Minister of Industry and Commerce, Zimbabwe officially opened the Workshop.

2.0       DELIBERATIONS.

The Workshop reviewed the participation of ESA Countries in the WTO, and in particular, addressed the following key issues:

(i)                  the performance of the developing countries, and of African Countries in particular, in the WTO

(ii)                the role of regional integration for strategic engagement with the WTO, including the performance of African countries in the Lome Convention

(iii)               the Built-in Agenda and New Issues emerging at the WTO

(iv)              the implications of the implementation of the WTO Agreements for the developmental prospects of African countries.

-                     African countries have merely been reacting to the proposals and initiatives of the developed countries;

-                     there is a general lack of coherent national trade policies in ESA countries;

-                     the lack of human and institutional capacity to understand, negotiate and implement WTO Agreements

-                     the lack of an effective consultative mechanism for ESA countries at national and regional levels

-                     inadequate staffing in the missions of the ESA countries represented in Geneva

2.2       Regional integration and participation in Lome. Regional integration within African countries is recognised as an important strategic base for African countries to:

-                     negotiate amongst themselves appropriate frameworks for co-operation and co-ordination towards more balanced and mutually beneficial relations between countries at different levels of development;

-                     develop and diversify their productive capacities through combined and complementary programmes to improve their productivity and export capacities both before and as they seek to enter more competitively into the global economy; and

-                     create a collective base for African countries to engage more effectively in multilateral negotiating processes that are shaping the terms for international trade, investment and other trade-related issues, in the WTO.

The Workshop noted that there were several regional trading arrangements in the region that could be used as a means to develop and integrate the ESA economies more effectively into the global economic system. The process in the WTO should not hamper the regional arrangements to which developing countries belong.

With respect to Lome, the Workshop noted that the ESA countries had not benefited much from the preferential arrangements under Lome, due to restrictions arising from the use of the rules of origin, safeguard provisions and high tariffs on specific  agricultural products and bureaucratic delays in implementing the benefits from the arrangement.  The Workshop also noted that the main thrust of the EU Green Paper on the future Lome is on reciprocal preferences. It was observed that the EU has already prepared their negotiating mandate. This mandate aims, among other things, to use a future ACP-EU co-operation agreement to enforce a narrow implementation of existing WTO rules and agreements on services, investment and intellectual property, and to promote the adoption of new rules on investment, competition, and procurement, to the detriment of the developmental needs of ESA countries.

2.3       Built-in Agenda and "New Issues"

The Workshop noted that:

-                     the Working Groups on the 'new' issues (trade and competition policy, trade and investment, and transparency in Government procurement) were established predominantly at the insistence of developed countries and have started their work.  A Committee on Trade and the Environment has been considering the linkage between trade and environment

2.4       Implementation and Implications:

 The Workshop noted that the burden of implementation of Uruguay Round (UR) commitment is rather heavy. The UR Agreements are very specific about the timing of the implementation of various obligations. The implementation has four broad elements:

(i)                  formulation of laws, regulations and procedures to give effect to the Agreements;

(ii)                establishment of new institutions;

(iii)               elimination of trade measures that conflict with the URA within a given time-frame; and

(iv)              sending in and complying with the notification requirements of the Agreements.

The Workshop identified some of the problems and constraints affecting the implementation of multilateral trade agreements that should form a basis for future WTO negotiation agenda, notably:

-                     the difficulties in complying with the heavy burden of notification requirements;

-                     the manner in which most developed countries are implementing their obligations under the UR Agreements which left a lot to be desired, e.g. increased resort to SPSs, TBT measures and other NTBs, which result in a lack of  any real opening of trade opportunities;

-                     the need to formulate and introduce laws, regulations and procedures for the implementation of some of the agreements  can be very expensive;

-                     the lack of provisions that focus on enhancing the supply-side capacity of ESA countries, particularly as it was noted that existing market access provisions are insufficient;

-                     the imbalances in certain agreements, which require rectification (e.g. TRIMs, Agreement on Agriculture and the Subsidies Agreement), including restitution of lost rights.

3.0     RECOMMENDATIONS

African countries should be pro-active and better prepared for WTO negotiations especially in possible new areas. This could be achieved, inter-alia, through defining their trade-related objectives and needs, in order to identify the issues of interest to them. On this basis, they can proceed to strategically determine the most appropriate negotiating strategy.

3.1.      Strategies for new WTO negotiations - 2000 and beyond

The Workshop noted that opinion is divided on starting a new Round of Trade Negotiations, a new Round with a Sectoral approach and Negotiating within the context of the present Round. Proponents of either arguments acknowledge two basic approaches, namely:

(a)                Built-in Agenda,

(b)               Built-in Agenda plus New Issues.

The Workshop strongly opposed the idea of a New Round and recommended that negotiations on the Built-in Agenda continues within the context of the present Round but should the agenda overlap Built-in issues, ESA Countries should be prepared to formulate new issues of interest to them for inclusion in the new negotiations, to be undertaken on a non sectoral basis.

The Workshop recommends that the developed countries' Uruguay Round Agreements (URA) commitments be fully implemented, particularly the WTO Ministerial decision on Measures concerning the possible negative effects of the reform programme on least developed countries and net food importing countries.

Developed countries should be urged not to use some Multilateral agreements, in particular, the Anti-dumping Agreement, the Sanitary and Phytosanitary and Technical Barriers to Trade Agreements in a discriminatory manner thus creating barriers against imports from developing countries.

With respect to the Built-in Agenda, the following recommendations emerged:

3.1.1    Market access

1.      Whenever there is injury or threat of injury to the domestic industry, ESA Countries should take safeguard action.  Whenever there is injury from dumping there should be anti-dumping action.  ESA Countries should establish appropriate mechanisms for these purposes.

2.      ESA Countries ought to ensure that future Multilateral Trade Negotiations take into account their developmental needs. In this regard, African countries are urged to take up issues affecting the entry of their products into the developed country markets, in WTO including:

-     tariff peaks and tariff escalation targeting particular sectors of export interest to ESA Countries.

-     non-tariff measures, particularly Sanitary and phytosanitary measures.

3.1.2.   Agriculture

It was noted that some African countries at the time of entry into force of the Agreement on Agriculture, had either not notified their existing subsidies or notified that they had  no subsidies and had thus unwittingly forfeited their right to maintain or introduce subsidies. This is an issue which needs rectification in order to enhance flexibility to African countries in the use of measures to stimulate agricultural production and exports.

It is therefore, recommended that certain positive steps be taken to rectify certain anomalies with respect to the application and operation of existing "stand-still" commitments on domestic support and export subsidies under the Agreement on Agriculture.

With respect to the elimination of trade measures within a specified time frame, it was recommended that ESA Countries should urge for a review of the "stand-still" commitment on domestic support and export subsidies under the Agreement on Agriculture. There is a need for rectification to provide enhanced flexibility to African countries in the use of measures to stimulate agricultural production and exports.

3.1.3    Services

African  countries are encouraged to study their services schedules, particularly when the GATS Agreement comes up for review in 1999-2000. Developing countries should push for the consolidation of their rights under the GATS agreement, in particular:

-                     the right not to be compelled to afford reciprocity to the developed countries

-                     the right to the use of safeguard action.

ESA Countries should be aware that they are currently under no obligation to liberalise, or they may liberalise only a few sectors.  In the sectors of Services due for review, developing countries should selectively consider the sectors to be liberalised.

3.1.4  TRIPS

1.      The Workshop noted with concern that the overall implications of the Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) Agreement is that it would have a serious negative effect on development especially on the capacity and opportunities for developing countries to develop and use indigenous and local technologies.  In implementing the TRIPs Agreement, ESA Countries should be aware that there are various options in each of the aspects of TRIPs, and they should identify and choose the options that are most appropriate to their interests and least damaging.

2.      Moreover ESA countries should begin the process to propose changes in the TRIPs  Agreement that would be in the interests of development and of the ESA Countries

3.      In view of its adverse implications for development, ESA countries should carefully examine many aspects of the TRIPs Agreement in order to be prepared for proposing appropriate amendments during the review process

4.      The ESA countries should push that the TRIPs Agreement prohibits the patenting of Biological materials and living organisms (whether naturally occurring or modified), as this patenting would have adverse effects on Community Rights. (In the event that this proposal is not acceptable, then a fall back position of effectively protecting community rights should be advanced.) This includes that ESA countries should establish a sui generis system that protects the intellectual rights and knowledge of communities in relation to plant varieties.

5.      We endorse the OAU/STRC Task Force declaration on community rights and access to biological resources and the related draft legislation and we urge OAU Governments and Ministers to take measures to implement these in their national policies.

6.      ESA countries should actively participate in the Convention on Bio-Diversity (CBD) to establish an equitable system of the sharing of benefits in the use of biological resources and to ensure that the treatment of IPRs does not facilitate biopiracy but instead prohibits biopiracy and protects the rights of local communities and developing countries.

3.1.5  TRIMS

African  countries are facing serious problems in conforming with the Trade-Related Investment Measures (TRIMs) Agreement as it places serious constraints on their industrial development. Under the TRIMs Agreement, it is recommended that a review of the National Treatment requirement (Article 2. TRIMS Agreement) be undertaken as a matter of priority, (insofar as the domestic content requirement which was of immense benefit to ESA States has been explicitly prohibited by Article 2.2). This prohibition results in an unnecessary outflow of foreign exchange from ESA States.

3.2.      New Issues

With respect to new issues, the following recommendations emerged:

3.2.1    Trade and Investment

-                     The ESA Countries, should ensure that they put forth their views effectively in promoting development perspectives and principles in the process of the work of the WTO working group. -                     ESA Countries should take note with great concern that the objective of the industrialised countries pursuing the subject of investment policy in WTO has been to work out a multilateral framework or agreement in WTO to curtail the rights and discretion of the host countries to regulate the inflow, conditions and operations of foreign investment in order to provide full freedom and rights for the foreign investors.  The ESA Countries have to remain fully prepared to meet with the situation when the developed countries come back with their old proposals. Therefore, the ESA Countries should start considering the various elements from their point of view to ensure preparedness during the envisaged view of the TRIMs in 1999.