10. ASSISTING DEVELOPING COUNTRIES TO
BENEFIT FROM TRADE
(23829)
12301/02
COM(02) 513
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Commission Communication: Trade and Development: assisting developing countries to benefit from trade.
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| Legal base: | —
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| Department: | International Development
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| Basis of consideration: | Minister's letter of 30 December 2002
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| Previous Committee Report: | HC 152-xli (2001-02), paragraph 12 (6 November 2002)
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| Discussed in Council: | 18-19 November 2002 General Affairs External Relations Council
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| Committee's assessment: | Politically important
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| Committee's decision: | Cleared (decision reported on 6 November 2002)
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The Communication
10.1 The Communication sets out three specific areas
in which the Commission intends to take action. The objective
is for the EU to fulfill its commitments in support of the efforts
of developing countries to benefit from trade and investment.
We cleared the document on 6 November but asked the Secretary
of State to provide us with an account of the discussion of it
at the General Affairs and External Relations Council on 19 November,
indicating how much support there was for any proposals put forward
for more ambitious actions than those proposed in the document.
The Secretary of State had criticised it, in her Explanatory Memorandum,
as lacking in ambition.
10.2 In a letter dated 30 December 2002, the Secretary
of State has given us the following account:
"The Council recognised the critical importance of this issue
to the world's poorest countries and reiterated that international
trade rules must take account of developing countries' needs.
The Council welcomed the Commission's Communication and noted
that it formally brought the Community's development and trade
agendas together for the first time.
"However, the Council reiterated that trade liberalisation
in itself is not sufficient to combat poverty in developing countries,
but must be part of a wider, country-owned poverty reduction strategy.
The Council also recalled the declaration of the 4th WTO Ministerial
in Doha in November 2001 and its commitment to place development
at the heart of the new round of multilateral negotiations. We
highlighted that this should include better market access for
developing countries, balanced trade rules that developing countries
can apply progressively and flexibly, and a workable and meaningful
solution to the problems some countries may face in using the
flexibilities in the Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights
(TRIPS) agreement.
"In particular, the Council discussions focused on the importance
of the ongoing WTO negotiations on agriculture, and their particular
interest to developing countries. I argued for the UK that failure
to reform the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) would endanger
the new international consensus for poverty reduction agreed at
the Millennium Assembly, Doha, Monterrey and Johannesburg and
that we must be willing to take forward the mid term review or
we could end up with the EU blocking the implementation of the
Doha agreement. After some discussion and doubts about CAP reform
expressed by the usual countries, the Council agreed Conclusions
which state, among other things, that any decisions taken on the
forthcoming reform of the CAP should not prejudice the outcome
of the Union's commitments to the Doha Development Agenda."
Conclusion
10.3 We thank the Secretary of State for giving us
this account. We note that, on behalf of the Government, she made
an important point to the Council on the dangers of failure to
reform the Common Agricultural Policy. Agreement to include a
reference in the Conclusions to the statement by the Brussels
2002 European Council on the EU's international commitments in
this respect is a useful, if modest, gain, though it appears that
even that was disputed by "the usual countries".
10.4 The document was cleared on 6 November.
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