So, a regulatory co-relation between the WTO and multinational donor agencies is needed, the speakers recommended on the second day of the 'International Civil Society Forum 2005 -- For Advancing LDC Interests in the Sixth WTO Ministerial' being held at Dhaka Sheraton Hotel.

The observation came at the plenary styled 'State of the Doha Round' co-chaired by Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya, executive director of Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), and Sothi Rachagan, vice-president of Nilai International College, Malaysia.

Speaking at the session, Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury, former commerce minister of Bangladesh, said: "Recently, WB advised Bangladesh to reduce import tariff on some items. While IMF once upon a time recommended increasing interest rate and later it recommended reducing the rate."

In recent days, oil price has become a sensitive issue, as most of the LDCs are spending huge amount of money on purchasing oil, he said.

Citing an example, he mentioned LDCs like Bangladesh import $500 million oil annually. "So, in the WTO, oil can be a sensitive issue."

Tofail Ahmed, also a former commerce minister and leader of the main opposition Awami League, said the developed countries reaped the real benefit from the WTO negotiations.

Both developed and developing countries made commitments to give special and preferential treatment to the LDCs but they did not keep their promises.

"We are facing a lot of pressures from the developed and developing countries in the WTO negotiations, but some important discussion are also going on outside WTO," said Toufiq Ali, permanent representative of Bangladesh in the WTO.

For example, he mentioned China already in principle has decided to give duty free access of 39 LDCs to its market.

Debapriya said prior to the Hong Kong Ministerial, civil society representatives attending the forum hope to find a positive declaration on emerging issues for the LDCs.

Pradeep S Mehta, chairperson, Advisory board of South Asia Watch On Trade, said some LDCs and also some developing countries found a way to make trade alliance with each other by the output of Cancun negotiations.

Chien Yen Goh, representative, Third World Network; Kasote Singogo, research advisor, Trade and Investment Association, Zambia; Annet Blank, counselor and Head, LDCs unit, WTO, Love Mtesa, permanent representative of Zambia in the WTO, David Luke, senior trade advisor, UNDP, were present at the discussion.

Working session on TRIPS
Emma Harrison, Global Trade Campaign Manager of Consumer International, UK, and Dr Zafrullah Chowdhury, president of Consumer Association of Bangladesh, co-chaired the session on Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS).

The forum demands a permanent solution to the problem faced by the LDCs having no or inadequate capacity for manufacturing drugs.

The forum also demands that evidence of fair and equitable benefit sharing, and prior informed consent be included as a condition for patentability in order to stop misappropriation of genetic resources and traditional knowledge.

Fahmida Khatun, senior research fellow of the CPD, presented the draft declaration on TRIPS.

Zafrullah said patent protection always increases costs and increased costs means people have less access to it.

He felt the civil society should strengthen its activities to protect the interest of the LDCs.

Dr Sachin Chaturvedi, fellow of Research and Information System for the Developing Countries, India, stressed the need for addressing IPRs issue adequately, saying developing countries don't do enough homework.

Hafiz Aziz-ur-Rahman, programme coordinator of The Network for Consumer Protection, Pakistan, also spoke at the session.

Working session on WTO Rules
Chandrakant Patel, representative of Southern and Eastern African Trade Information and Negotiations Institute, Switzerland, and Mir Nasir Hossain, president of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry, co-chaired the session on WTO rules.

The forum demands a moratorium on safeguard measures and anti-dumping actions against LDCs, at least for a minimum period of five years.

The forum also demands that subsidies for import-substitution must be admissible for the LDCs in order to facilitate the process of industrialisation.

Khondaker Golam Moazzem, research fellow of CPD, presented the draft declaration in the session.

Patel feared that some kind of cosmetic declaration might be the outcome of Hong Kong ministerial.

Sayed Alamgir Farrouk Chowdhury, former secretary, and Prabhash Ranjan, research officer of Centre for Trade and Development, An Oxfam GB Initiative, India, also spoke at the session.

Prabhash said anti-dumping measure has become a political weapon and it is being used as a protectionist tool.

Working Session on Agriculture
Mahfuz Ullah, secretary general of Centre for Sustainable Development, Bangladesh, and Demba Moussa Dembele, director of African Forum on Alternatives, Senegal, co-chaired the working session.

Presenting the declaration on agriculture, Uttam Kumar Dev, senior research fellow of CPD, said the objective of the negotiation on agriculture for the Hong Kong Ministerial is to establish modalities for further commitments in the areas of market access, domestic support and export competition.

In the declaration, the forum strongly recommended for duty-free market access including advanced developing countries, elimination of export and cotton subsidies, ensuring market based price, removing non-tariff barriers and providing technical and financial assistance to improve agriculture productivity and infrastructure.

Mouhamet Lamine Ndiaye, regional trade campaign officer of Oxfam GB, Senegal, presented a paper on West Africa Road Map towards Hong Kong 2005, while Buba Khan, food rights campaign coordinator of ActionAid Gambia, presented another paper on Agreement on Agriculture at the session.

Besides, Cheikh Tidiane, trade programme officer of Enda Tiers Monde, Senegal, presented a paper on Trade Policy and Agriculture Development in Senegal while AKM Masoud Ali of Integrated Community and Industrial Development in Bangladesh presented another paper on WTO and Trade in Agriculture: Agenda of Human Rights.

Working session on Special and Differential Treatment
Qazi Faruque Ahmed, president of Proshika Bangladesh, and Bernice Lee, policy analysis and strategy advisor of International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development, Switzerland, co-chaired the session.

Presenting declaration on Special and Differential Treatment (S&DT), Navin Dahal, executive director of South Asia Watch on Trade, Economics and Environment, Nepal, said though consensus has been reached on some S&D proposals, WTO members are yet to reach an agreement as regards a large number of proposals. In most cases, S&DT provisions continue to be ineffectual and non-binding.

In the declaration, the Forum recommended for recognition of LDCs needs, full implementation of S&DT provisions, concerns of newly acceded members, binding commitment and mandatory assistance and agreement-specific versus crosscutting proposals.

Kazi Mahmudur Rahman, senior research associate of CPD, Samar Verma, policy advisor of Oxfam, India, Onesmus Mugyenyi, research fellow and programme manager of ACODE, Uganda, and Manzur Ahmed, advisor of Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry, presented keynote papers on S&DT at the working session.