Arab members and observers in the World Trade Organization are unlikely to have a stronger voice unless they participate en masse in the new round of negotiations agreed upon in Doha.
“The Doha meeting is just the beginning of a long and winding road for Arab states,” said Abdul-Hamid Mamdouh, the WTO’s director of trade in services division. He was speaking at a news conference held Friday in Beirut to take stock of the Doha meeting, which succeeded in kicking off a new round of negotiations.
“All that the Arab world achieves now depends on its negotiating skills,’ said Mamdouh.
He is one of only three Arabs holding such a high position in the WTO hierarchy, a reflection of the Arab world's almost invisible place in the organization, which currently has 144 members, inclusive of new members China and Taiwan.
The Arab bloc within the WTO comprises half of the 22 member Arab League, which was denied observer status in the WTO.
Five other Arab countries, including Lebanon, are currently, observers and are planning to join the organization in the coming years.
“We should have a great role in the WTO to counter measures such as the US and Israeli objection to the Arab League’s observer status,’ said Talal Abu-Ghazaleh, a respected Arab economist who was present at the Doha meeting, Nov. 9-13.
“I vociferously object to the WTO's refusal of the Palestinian Authority’s application due to Israeli and US objections. The fact that the Palestinians do not have a state is not the issue because provinces such as Hong Kong and Macau were able to join the organization,’ he added.
The six Arab countries outside the WTO, including Iraq, Libya and Syria, are usually classified as rogue states and are under some form of embargo.
Although Syria had planned to attend the Doha meeting, it stayed away due to Israel’s participation. Lebanon also stayed away for the same reason despite being invited to attend as a WTO observer. Israel, according to speculation, withdrew from the Doha meeting for "security reasons,” an action hailed as a success by participating Arab countries, according to Abu-Ghazaleh.
Although Lebanon and Syria were the only two Arab states from the 23 founding members of the WTO's predecessor, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, in 1947 they withdrew from the GATT in 1951 when Israel joined.
"The WTO just like the United Nations does not have a fair playing field," Ghazaleh said. "But that does not mean we should withdraw. We should rather reform it from within."
The Doha meeting which was doomed to fail without an agreement on the start of a new negotiating round, finally ended with consensus to start a new round in two years time, following the fifth ministerial meeting. The year 2005 was set as a deadline for ending this round of negotiations, which includes old issues such as competition and investment. Prior to Doha, developing countries said they would not agree to a new round unless developed countries addressed the implementation of past agreements.
"We cannot stay outside the WTO, because that would allow developed countries to do what they like, such as increase the amount of subsidies they give to their farmers," Ghazaleh said.
He said that the Doha meeting should be regarded as a triumph for the developing world which was able to extract a commitment to developing nations to implement past agreements and allow poor countries to manufacture patented medicine.
"We were able to achieve the unexpected in Doha, because countries such as India played a leading role in standing head to head with developed nations," Ghazaleh said.
India's objections to some of the Doha meeting's resolutions almost scuppered the talks, putting it neck by neck with France, which initially refused to budge from cutting agricultural subsidies and threatened to walk out.
"We are able to do something this time because countries in the developed world no longer form, one solid bloc," Ghazaleh said. "The differences between the United States and European blocs were sometimes more intense than those among developing and developed countries. Many times we found ourselves siding with the United States against the Europeans, particularly with regards to agriculture."
The main bone of contention between Europeans and the United States was the large size of agricultural subsidies handed out by the 15-member bloc to their influential farming community which hold high election stakes in countries such as France.
"Now that China is member of the WTO, the interests of the three main players who control 60 percent of the world's trade, namely the European Union, the United States and Japan, will play against each other."
Ghazaleh urged the Arab League to set up an office at the WTO headquarters in Geneva to create a stronger lobby.
"There are 24 regional blocs within the WTO," Ghazaleh explained, "so why should we be marginalized?"
Mamdouh said the Arab world could never have a strong position inside the WTO unless they formulate clear economic policies domestically.
"The Arab world should set conditions and a time frame for liberalizations," Mamdouh said. "Membership in the WTO is not an end in itself, but it should be a tool for economic growth."