The accession of Cambodia to the World Trade Organisation this week constitutes an important step towards implementation of the Doha Development Agenda.

But negotiations leading up to Cambodia's membership underline a gap between promise and reality.

As part of the plan agreed in November 2001 at the ministerial conference in Qatar, WTO members committed themselves to accelerating the accession of least developed countries (LDCs).

Cambodia and Nepal, which also signed accession documents this week, are the first two LDCs to join the WTO since it came into being in 1995 as successor to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) established in the wake of the Second World War.

The two countries will become the WTO's 147th and 148th members next year after they have ratified the agreed terms.

Cambodia's accession process was "not a road to the Gardens of Eden," says Cambodia's chief negotiator, Commerce Minister Cham Prasidh.

"For Cambodia it was a jungle trail full of land mines, guerrilla ambushes, tigers and piranhas. The positive note is that along that lengthy, costly, tiring and painful trek there are some angels who soothed us and encouraged us to move till the end," Cham said at Cancun.

Accept challenges

Among those that helped was WTO Director-General Supachai Panitchpakdi, experts from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the European Union, Cham told IPS.

"This is a package of concessions and commitments that goes far beyond what is commensurate with the level of development of an LDC like Cambodia. Nonetheless, we do accept the challenges, because we see the benefits of joining the world trading system," he added.

"We played the role of a bulldozer, levelling the road for other LDCs wanting to accede to the WTO, " he said.

Indeed, the ordeal of being the first LDC to have the opportunity to join the WTO was not an easy task.

Cham said he was very mindful of the concerns of some of LDCs that Cambodia might be making too many commitments.

"However, we have begged for their understanding that Cambodia's ultimate commitments and obligations reflect only our country's development, trade and financial system without prejudice to that of other LDCs," he said.

In no way was Cambodia so pretentious as to negotiate on behalf of all LDCs. At the Cancun ministerial conference Sep. 11, Cham asked the WTO members to refrain from making Cambodia a precedent for the other acceding LDCs, seven of whom are in line to accede to the world trade body.

A look at Cambodia's accession package reveals that it is rather ambitious and far from commensurate with the country's stage of development.

Less protection

For instance, Cambodia, a country where 80 percent of the population is employed in the agricultural sector, was asked to provide less protection to its sensitive agricultural sectors (60 percent maximum tariff) than the US, EU and Canada.

The EU's highest tariff peak on agriculture is 252 percent. In the case of the US and Canada it is 120 percent.

Further, Cambodia was required to bind its agricultural export subsidies at zero percent despite the fact that this is not an obligation for LDCs under the Agreement on Agriculture.

Several conditions have been imposed on Cambodia also in the area of intellectual property rights (IPRs).

For example, the country has undertaken to implement the Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) provisions on pharmaceutical patents by 2007 in contrast to the Doha decision to allow LDCs to defer this until 2016.

The accession package obliges Cambodia to sign the Patent Cooperation Treaty under the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), though this is not a TRIPS obligation.

Cambodia is also required to provide protection to test data related to pharmaceutical products, which need regulatory approval for distribution. The protection provisions will be implemented immediately and remain in place for five years.

This means that the products in question will enjoy a period of market exclusivity, reducing people's ability to gain access to affordable generic versions of new medicines.

The TRIPS agreement does speak of data protection against 'unfair commercial use' but is silent on the nature and period of protection. As a LDC, Cambodia should not have been obliged to undertake this commitment.

According to Supachai, "all accessions, whether big or small, are about creating equal opportunities for growth and prosperity."

It's commitment

Welcoming Nepal as a new member, he said: "Accession and membership of the WTO are, fundamentally, about commitment to improvement of the standards of living of the citizens, both economically and physically. Indeed that is the theme of this ministerial conference and the Doha Development Agenda.."

The head of the Nepalese delegation, Hari Bahadur Basnet, Minister for Industry, Commerce and Supplies, said: "It is our conviction that joining this organisation would not only enhance our effectiveness and efficiency in trading capacity but would also result in the expansion of trade, leading to a higher level of growth and enhancement of quality of life of our people.""

Nepal has a population of 23 million and a per capita income of US$240. Agriculture is the main source of income and employment, and accounts for 41 percent of GDP and more than 80 percent of employment.

Tourism is one of the most import services sectors and contributes about 12 percent of the total foreign exchange and 3.8 percent of GDP. Nepal has been increasingly developing hydroelectric energy resources. India is the most important trading partner of Nepal. - IPS