Various post-Doha topics and Preferential Access to Markets held at the Ministry of Trade, Luanda - Angola, 4 to 6 November 2002

1. This seminar was organised by AITIC at the request of the Angolan government, and with the invaluable help of Mr Amadeu Alves Leitão Nunes, Trade Representative at the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Angola to the UN and other international organisations in Geneva, and Mr João Lusevikueno, National Director of International Cooperation at the Ministry of Commerce of the Republic of Angola. The seminar was financed by AITIC.

2. The AITIC delegation to Luanda comprised Mr William Ehlers, consultant and former Representative for Uruguay to the WTO, and Mr Marc Antille, Projects Assistant at AITIC.

3. AITIC’s representatives were welcomed in Luanda by Mr Lusevikueno who introduced them to many aspects of life in Angola, and explained fully the synergy and interaction between the various departments working within the Ministry of Commerce. Final preparations were made on the spot thanks to the active collaboration of Mr Lusevikueno, who provided AITIC’s representatives with essential information concerning seminar participants and their general level of knowledge on WTO matters. Roughly 30 people from various ministries (commerce, finance, telecommunications, fishing and agriculture) took part over the three working days.

4. The seminar began on Monday 4 November with an opening ceremony attended by the Vice Minister for Commerce, HE Mr Manuel Cruz Neto, who reminded participants of the importance for the least-developed countries of sharing their practical experience in an effort to participate more actively in the implementation and the new negotiations surrounding WTO Agreements. HE the Vice Minister for Commerce encouraged participants to collaborate with each other and establish closer coordination between the various ministries concerned by the topics raised during the seminar.

5. The press, in particular the Angolan press agency (ANGOP), and national television covered the seminar from start to finish. The seminar was mentioned on the television evening news on Monday 4 November, and several dispatches were published, some referring to the need to improve the effectiveness of the Republic of Angola’s Trade Representation in Geneva, which lacks resources, particularly in terms of staff.

6. The first day set out to deal with the opening up of markets in the service sector. Following a general presentation of the WTO’s General Agreement on Trade in Services and its implications for Angola, the presentation concentrated on procedure and the choices open to Angola in responding to the various requests submitted by several countries (developed and developing) wishing to position themselves on the Angolan market. In the face of these enquiries, Angola’s position should be defined in terms of identifying the needs of the country in the service sector, thus enabling it to set priorities on its own interests. When dealing with requests and proposals, it is not vital to respond with extreme precision, but prospective national market openings should correspond adequately to the needs identified beforehand. Furthermore, Angola has to identify those services where its enterprises can enjoy a comparative advantage, as well as which world or regional markets these enterprises could access, so that the Republic can, in turn, present its own requests. Indeed, even though the deadline for these requests is approaching, the least-developed countries still have some room for manoeuvre.

7. The second day of the seminar was devoted to the Agreement on Agriculture, the Agreement on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures and the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights. The debates which followed demonstrated the importance of these topics to the Republic of Angola which, prior to the civil war, had an agricultural sector with good export capacity. In the area of trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights, if Angola is to guarantee satisfactory protection on investment, it needs to give urgent attention to public health (access to medicines), the protection of traditional knowledge and customs and the fight against pirating and forgery.

8. During the third and last day of the seminar, the speakers raised the issues relating to implementation and special and differential treatment, before detailing regional initiatives and agreements. Angola is particularly concerned by issues relating to implementation, since, as an LDC, the Republic has priority access to those measures concerning special and differential treatment. With regard to regional agreements, the concessions provided for under the Cotonou Agreement or the initiatives favouring LDCs (AGOA, the “Everything But Arms“ initiative) should not be thought to grant non-restrictive and permanent market access for Angolan products. Indeed, these measures are temporary (Cotonou Agreement), or subject to conditions (AGOA), or do not concern certain products of great importance to LDCs (sugar, rice and bananas which are subject to quotas and delays under the “Everything But Arms” initiative).

9. Several messages were re-stated during the course of the seminar, but the issue of preparing for multilateral trade negotiations probably emerged as being the most important. Indeed, the Angolan Inter-ministerial Commission responsible for studying topics linked to the WTO has a vital role to play in the process of participation in the different negotiations. The presidency of this Commission is especially important since it will bear the main responsibility for improving the support provided to the Angolan Trade Representation in Geneva. According to the AITIC representatives, and in light of experience gained from previous negotiations, the person chosen to preside over the Inter-ministerial Commission must plan regular meetings, as well as draw up and distribute a proposed agenda to all the participants in advance. This person will, furthermore, have to send preparatory documents and record the minutes of each meeting. Therefore, this is a key post requiring specific qualities if discussions are to be directed efficiently, including diplomacy and an ability to summarise views in an effort to build a consensus within the various ministries. These qualities will ensure an efficient response to the demands and appeals from the Trade Representation to the WTO in Geneva.

10. At the end of the seminar, participants expressed their satisfaction and confirmed their interest in taking part in such an event. On the one hand, opportunities to meet colleagues from different ministries are rare and this type of event answers the need expressed by the participants to coordinate their efforts. On the other hand, by centring the speeches on trade topics of importance to Angola, participants were able to present their differing ideas and discuss them in a constructive manner, which sometimes led to lively and animated exchanges. The desire for greater cohesion and improved coordination in defining priorities and objectives relating to national economic policy became obvious to the different officials present at the seminar.

11. At the outcome of this initial experiment, the organisers expressed satisfaction at the success of the seminar, despite a lower than expected participation from the civil society, i.e. private and academic sectors. The idea of pursuing this collaboration was of course advanced, with a preparation which would include the active participation of the Inter-ministerial Commission mentioned earlier. Activities of this nature would enable the various actors to coordinate on a regular basis. In the future, it would also be desirable to establish closer links with the private sector and the universities in order to make civil society more aware of the characteristics of international trade. Given these initial very encouraging results, the contacts made will be developed in order to define a programme of work in the medium term, which will enable the Angolan government and its trade representation in Geneva to participate more actively in the implementation of the WTO Agreements.