More than one hundred ministers are expected to attend, on 30 November in Geneva, the first major ministerial meeting of the World Trade Organisation for four years, which will not be devoted to Doha round negotiations, even if they will be in everyone’s minds. Officially, the seventh ministerial meeting of the WTO, which succeeds that of Hong Kong in 2005, is aimed at “examining the functioning” of the global trade regulator during the three-day event. “It will not be a negotiating session, but a platform for ministers to review the functioning of this house and an occasion to send a number of strong signals to the world with respect to the entire WTO waterfront of issues - from monitoring and surveillance to disputes, accessions, Aid for Trade, technical assistance and international governance,” declared WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy.

Put off by his numerous unfruitful attempts, Lamy preferred to lower the ambitions of his ministerial as much as possible. At most, he is hoping for a new commitment by the major powers to conclude the Doha round in 2010, a perspective that seems to grow more distant by the day, given the lack of a firm commitment by the United States, for which this does not appear to be a priority.

Whereas global trade is expected to fall by 10% in 2009, Lamy will not fail to defend, once again, an agreement on Doha, which could, according to certain studies, contribute up to US$700 billion to the global economy by lifting tariff barriers for thousands of products, thus putting an end to EU and US agricultural subsidies. Some studies have, however, been contested by certain NGOs, who will demonstrate throughout the ministerial meeting.

According to the WTO, the major economies have managed to avoid the pitfall of aggravated protectionism over recent months. “The size and unexpectedness of the economic crisis could have provoked a significant protectionist response. But this did not happen,” reveals the WTO in its fourth report of the year on the commercial policies of its 153 members, published on 20 November.

MISTAKES

There have certainly been some “mistakes,” but “the global economy is as open to trade today as it was before the crisis”. In total, trade restriction measures recorded since October 2008 “cover a maximum of 1% of the global trade in goods,” according to the report, which also specifies that, in the course of the year, there was no significant increase in complaints lodged with the WTO Dispute Settlement Body.

As for the EU, Trade Commissioner Catherine Ashton is due to take part in the first day of the meeting, on 30 November, before officially taking office the day after as EU high representative for foreign affairs and security policy. For the sessions of 1 and 2 December, the Commission should be represented by Agriculture Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel.