Jalal Alavi, PhD Candidate at the University of Neuchatel, writes the following:
The EU trade commissioner Peter Mandelson has urged the EU ministers yesterday to boost trade and development aid, as promised, to help him conclude market-opening deals with 78 countries in the ACP region. He further asked EU to send a strong signal to these countries that aid is on the negotiating table. According to the Associated Press report from Luxembourg meeting, the envisaged trade deals foresee gradual market opening by ACP countries in parallel with EU funding for good governance and reforms in these countries so as to spur trade among them. It means that as far as access to market is concerned, these deals will aim mainly at EU access to markets of these countries rather than enhanced access to EU markets by them. This runs contrary to the EU self-commitments in the WTO, including the recent one in the context of the so-called aid for trade. The WTO General Council at its last meeting (10 October 2006) endorsed the report and recommendations of the Aid for Trade Task Force (WT/AFT/1, 27 July 2006) established under the paragraph 57 of Hong Kong ministerial declaration. The main purpose of the Hong Kong mandate is to explore ways and means to opperationalize aid for trade initiative with a view to helping developing countries, particularly LDCs, to build their supply-side capacity and trade-related infrastructure. It is quite obvious that the aid for trade from Hong Kong ministerial perspective as well as in Task Force view is an attempt to help disadvantaged countries to secure enhanced access to the global markets, including EU markets. In Hong Kong meeting and in the context of the aid for trade, EU and its members pledged to allocate on an annual basis 2 billion Euros by 2010 as trade-related development assistance. This Mandelson's reading of EU negotiations with ACP countries gives the impression that EU sees the money as "subsidy for market opening" rather than "aid for trade".