RESOLUTION(1)

on the WTO millennium round of negotiations

The ACP-EU Joint Assembly,

- meeting in Strasbourg (France) from 29 March to 1 April 1999,

- having regard to the Marrakech agreements,

- having regard to the European Parliament's various resolutions on the functioning of the WTO,

- having regard to the European Parliament's various resolutions on the trade disputes concerning the COM in bananas,

A. bearing in mind that the benefits and costs of multi-lateral trade liberalisation under the Uruguay Round have been unevenly spread between industrialised and developing countries and that this imbalance needs to be redressed in favour of developing countries,

B. recognising, in this connection, the special situation of small States, which by virtue of their small size, face severe constraints such as undue exposure to external factors and risks beyond their control, high volatility of terms of trade because of a narrow base of export products and limited possibilities for diversification,

C. whereas the main aim of the World Trade Organisation must be to organise world trade in a balanced way which enables all parts of the world to develop harmoniously,

D. considering this as an area for concern in the current EU/ACP negotiations on proposals for establishment of REPAs with the ACP countries,

E. whereas the EU and the ACP countries have a shared conception of balanced development which respects the environment and certain social standards and objectives,

F. whereas a new round of multilateral negotiations is set to begin in the forthcoming months,

G. recognising that increased industrialisation in developing countries on the basis of the processing of agricultural products is hampered by the less efficient but well protected outputs from Europe,

H. whereas there has been an increase in the number of trade disputes, particularly those relating to the trade preferences granted by the European Union to produce imported from ACP countries, between the European Union and the United States of America,

1. Formally requests the Council, the Commission, the governments of the Member States of the EU and the governments of the ACP states to make every effort to ensure that the "millennium round" negotiations lead to the recognition by the WTO of the preferential agreements as development aid instruments;

2. Emphasises the need for special and differential treatment for small States, both in terms of access to concessionary finance and trade preferences, with due regard to their vulnerability and limited capacity to withstand external risks and threats;

3. Expresses its support - backed by most developing countries including the majority of the ACP States belonging to the WTO - for the preservation, strengthening and implementation of the WTO's existing S & D provisions, many of which have lacked enforcement due to their non-binding nature;

4. Calls for the extension of S & D provisions to allow for positive discrimination in favour of vulnerable single commodity-dependent economies through the establishment of an index to allow for the inclusion of small island states;

5. Recalls the commitment of the EU and the ACP states to the agreements entered into in the framework of the various Lomé Conventions;

6. Stresses that the agreements entered into by the EU in the framework of the WTO have no legal precedence over those it has entered into in the framework of the Lomé Convention;

7. Calls on the Commission and the Council to strengthen the aid and technical advice arrangements for the ACP states in order to enable them to participate fully in the forthcoming negotiations;

8. Requests a review of WTO mechanisms in order to enable the interests of developing countries and, in particular, the objective of combating poverty, to be taken into greater consideration;

9. Calls on all WTO Members to ensure that the agenda for new multilateral negotiations to be agreed at the Third WTO Ministerial meeting (end of 1999) clearly reflects the ultimate objective of the negotiations: sustainable development to the benefit of all;

10. Supports proposals to convert special and differentiated treatment provisions into obligations with a legally binding nature, which will help to ensure that panel rulings take better account of social and economic repercussions in developing countries;

11. Calls for the precise and unique circumstances of each protocol sector to be taken into account and that the protocols be tailored, on a case-by-case basis, to the requirements of each sector, with regard to the review of the Lomé Convention's protocols;

12. Recalls also that the process which has led to the current level of development in many European countries involved periods of relative protection and that the countries which are currently developing must be able to benefit, where necessary, from special treatment;

13. Calls on the future ACP and European negotiators to draw up a common strategy in order to promote the recognition by the WTO of the legitimacy of the health, environmental and social norms which it tends to regard as obstacles to world trade;

14. Deplores the unilateral approach currently being taken by the United States of America in the management of trade disputes and calls on the WTO to strengthen the sanction mechanisms that apply to countries which make use of such measures;

15. Deplores, in particular, the American attitude in the dispute over the COM in bananas;

16. Instructs its Co-Presidents to forward this resolution to the Commission, the ACP-EU Council of Ministers and the Director-General of the WTO.

(1) Adopted by the ACP-EU Joint Assembly on 1 April 1999 in Strasbourg (France).