In the on-going negotiations however, the focus on the development dimension has been highly limited. The thrust of the discussions has been primarily on trade in goods, or what is referred to as the "List" approach.[1] The main problems in the List Approach are its sole focus on trade in goods, its silence on environmental services, and the fact that the lists of goods proposed have pre-dominantly been goods with multiple non-environmental uses. India had proposed an alternative in the form of the "Project Approach".[2] Argentina merged elements of the Project and List approaches with its proposal for an "Integrated Approach"[3], which was further developed in a joint submission with India.[4] Brazil's Request and Offer methodology[5] is the other proposal on the table.
There has however not been much headway on the approaches being negotiated. It is the view of the proponents of this paper that without a common understanding on the objectives and modalities of negotiations, any further discussions would not be very fruitful. The purpose of this paper is to highlight the underlying principles of the Doha Declaration and emphasize the elements of the development dimension which would need to be woven as an integral component of the negotiations. The proponents also believe that principles that focus on a win for development along with a win for trade and a win for environment will in themselves ensure clarity in the approaches that can be adopted in the EGS discussions.
The development dimension in the EGS discussions was sought to be given central focus in a recent submission on "special and differential treatment" (S&DT) by Brazil and Argentina.[6] This communication is in furtherance to that submission, and seeks to elaborate on some of the other elements of the development dimension, in addition to the S&DT elements.


[1] JOB(07)/54; TN/TE/W/57; TN/TE/W/57Corr.1; TN/TE/W/56; TN/TE/W/52; TN/TE/W/50; TN/TE/W/49; TN/TE/W/49/Rev.1; TN/TE/W/49/Rev.2; TN/TE/W/48; TN/TE/W/47; TN/TE/W/47/Add.1; TN/TE/W/46; TN/TE/W/44; TN/TE/W/44/Corr.1; TN/TE/W/38; TN/TE/W/34; TN/TE/W/19; TN/TE/W/19/Corr.1; TN/TE/W/8; TN/TE/W/6, TN/TE/W75.
[2] TN/TE/W/67; TN/TE/W/60; TN/TE/W/54; TN/TE/W/51.
[3] TN/TE/W/62.
[4] JOB(07)/77.
[5] JOB/(07)/146.
[6] TN/TE/W/76.