Coalition Currents

The Ratification Campaign Kicks Into Gear:
Burkina Faso, Mauritius, Mexico Join Canada as Early Ratifiers of UNESCO Cultural Diversity Convention; May 18 European Council Ratification Decision Sets Stage for Member State Ratifications

The goal of seeing the UNESCO convention on the protection and promotion of the diversity of cultural expressions enter into effect at the time of the 2007 General Conference has received an early boost with the news that four countries have now ratified the convention, and that several other countries have set their ratification machinery in gear.

Adopted by a landslide vote of 148-2 at UNESCO’s 33 rd General Conference last October, the convention recognizes the distinctive nature of cultural goods and services and affirms in international law the right of countries to apply policies in support of cultural diversity. To enter into effect, it requires ratification by a minimum of 30 countries.

While only two countries— Mauritius and Canada —have formally deposited their instruments of ratification with UNESCO, the following reports indicate that this number should grow significantly in the coming weeks and months.

Burkina Faso , Mauritius : First in Africa

On May 2, Burkina Faso ’s National Assembly voted to ratify the UNESCO convention on the protection and promotion of the diversity of cultural expressions. The decision was hailed by Burkina Faso ’s Coalition for Cultural Diversity, which worked closely with the government to secure fast-track ratification.

Rasmané Ouedraogo , President of the Coalition, who had worked closely with Minister of Culture, Arts and TourismAline Koala, helping to prepare the ratification documents on a priority basis, praised the government for moving so quickly to ratify the UNESCO convention.

“In particular, we salute our political leaders, chief among them the Head of State His Excellency Blaise Compaore for the close attention they have accorded to culture, and for the immense work they have carried out to bring about this rapid ratification,” he said (Our translation).

“I invite my colleagues among national coalitions in Africa to redouble their efforts to ensure ratification of the convention without delay,” Ouedraogo added.

Earlier, on March 29, less than six months after last October’s 33rd General Conference, Mauritius became the second country to formally deposit its instrument of ratification with UNESCO, joining Canada , which ratified last November. Mauritius ’s ratification decision was taken two days earlier, on March 27.

Meanwhile, Mali , Gabon and Senegal have all launched their ratification processes. Mali ’s ratification is expected to be imminent, as favourable decision on ratification at an April 19 meeting of the council of ministers sets the stage for a vote in the national legislature.

On April 27, Mexico ’s Senate accorded its approval to a bill to ratify the UNESCO convention. It then referred the instrument to the office of the President for publication in the official government gazette. Following this, the instrument of ratification will be presented to UNESCO after the bill has been published in the official government newspaper.

In the run-up to the vote, representatives of the Mexican Coalition for Cultural Diversity had met with several Senators to emphasize the importance that Mexico ’s cultural organizations placed on having the convention ratified quickly. Gabriel Larrea , President of the Coalition, said rapid entry into effect of the convention “will be good news for all countries, but especially for Mexico .”

The positive vote in the Mexican Senate was also obtained on a tight deadline, with only a few weeks left in the legislative session, and with presidential elections looming on July 2.

Elsewhere in Latin America , although at earlier stages in their processes, Brazil , Chile and Uruguay have all begun preparing their ratifications, with the Brazilian government’s objective reportedly being to complete their ratification by August, before the country heads into the election campaign leading up to the October elections. Coalitions for Cultural Diversity in each of these countries are in regular contact with their governments, monitoring the progress of the ratification process.

On May 18, the Ministers of Culture of the European Union adopted a decision approving the UNESCO convention on the protection and promotion of the diversity of cultural expressions in the name of the European Community.

The text of the proposed decision was the result of an intensive series of discussions in Brussels at the technical level involving representatives of the ministries of culture of EU member states that began back in January.

The European Coalitions for Cultural Diversity congratulate the European Commission, the European Parliament and the Council for this fast decision and invite Member States to boost their own internal ratification procedure in order for the Community and the Member States to be part of the first thirty ratifications required for the Convention to enter into force.

The European Union will now await ratifications at the national level by a critical mass of member states before depositing jointly their instruments of ratification with UNESCO. The notion of ‘critical mass’ does not correspond to any set number of ratifications. However, it seems likely that the European authorities will wait until several member states have completed their ratifications at the national level. This condition should be met in reasonably short order: early reports indicate that several European states, including Finland , France , Austria , Cyprus as well as Slovakia hope to conclude their ratification processes in the coming months. Caution should be exercised with respect to these projections, however, as the decision of when to file their instruments of ratification will rest with EU officials. This will be a political choice that would be premature to make at this stage.

NOTE: As this issue of Coalition Currents was in production, we received word that Croatia and Cambodia have ratified the convention. We will report in more detail in our next issue.

Given the news reported above, and with other reports that ratification processes are in at least their preliminary stages in China, India, Switzerland and a number of other countries, there now appears to be a realistic prospect that the 30-country ratification threshold could be met in time for the convention to enter into legal effect at the time of the next General Conference.

But meeting this target is by no means a sure thing, given the complexity of legislative ratification processes required by many countries, the reality of looming elections in a number of key leader countries, and the fundamental challenge of ensuring governments accord ratification enough importance to give it priority on the legislative agenda. And because the convention will only enter into effect three months after the 30 th member state deposits its instruments of ratification with UNESCO, this means the ratification threshold must be met by June 2007—just 13 months from now.

Many cultural organizations, notably through national coalitions for cultural diversity, have already started their work on this front. They are talking with key ministers in their government—not just ministers responsible for culture, but foreign affairs ministers (in many cases responsible for ratifying treaties), and even heads of government. They are countering arguments coming from some quarters—in some cases from ministries responsible for international trade—against ratifying the convention. And they are holding conferences, seminars and media briefings to increase the public profile of the ratification campaign. The work is straightforward, it is local, and no one can do it more effectively than the organizations themselves.

UNESCO DG Touts Convention,
But Ratification Program Details Remain Sketchy

UNESCO Director General Koïchiro Matsuura used his April 5 speech to the UNESCO’s 59-member Executive Board to emphasize the agency’s intention of promoting widespread ratification of the convention.

“Your statements indicate that several among you have already launched the ratification process,” he said. Noting that two and a half years after its adoption the convention on intangible heritage was closing in on its 50 th ratification, he added: “I hope to be able to say the same thing in two years about the 2005 Convention.”

“Numerous meetings and communications materials are planned in the course of the current biennium [2006-2007], in particular outside UNESCO headquarters, to increase awareness among member states of what is at stake in the 2005 Convention,” he said. “Four feasibility studies on regional observatories for cultural diversity have also been launched. The development of partnerships with a view to the effective protection and promotion of the diversity of cultural expressions will similarly be at the heart of our efforts.” (Our translation)

This all sounds positive. But it also very general. And efforts to track down specifics on what UNESCO actually plans to do in concrete terms don’t get very far.

Specifics of UNESCO’s plans to promote ratification of the convention are not yet public. However, a review of UNESCO’s approved 2006-07 program and budget document reveals a noteworthy difference in approach to promoting the convention on the diversity of cultural expressions when compared with that used for the convention on intangible heritage. Specifically, no ratification targets are set out for the new convention. By contrast, a target of 20 ratifications was set for the intangible heritage convention in the 2004-05 program and budget, and a target of a further 20 ratifications is set out in the 2006-07 document. For the convention on the diversity of cultural expressions, the document cites ‘consultations carried out at the national and international levels’ and ‘adhesion of member states to the convention’ as performance indicators—but without setting any specific targets.

A concerted push from UNESCO headquarters to promote ratification of the convention among all its member states would be welcome news. However, in a ratification context the fundamental playing field has now shifted to a local national context. Governments of every member state will decide whether they ratify the convention—and when. The requirements in effect in each country for ratifying an international treaty will be an important factor in how long this process takes. The timing of national elections will also have a bearing. But the deciding element, in every case, will be local political will. And on this count, it bears repeating that cultural professional organizations can have a major impact on whether their country acts to ratify the convention within the next 13 months.

Coalitions and cultural organizations undertaking local ratification campaigns within their countries should be prepared to counter pressure coming from the United States on their governments not to ratify the convention. Reports from several sources confirm that this pressure has already been brought to bear on a number of governments. It is clear that the intense opposition from the U.S. against the convention—prominent during the negotiations leading up to the adoption vote at last fall’s 33 rd General Conference—is continuing into the ratification phase.

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La Francophonie Maintains Priority on Ratification
of UNESCO Convention

The International Organization of La Francophonie continues to be a leading champion of the cultural diversity convention. On April 6, during the 59 th session of the Permanent Council of La Francophonie, Secretary General Abdou Diouf called on the organization’s member states to ratify the convention quickly.

“We are all conscious of the need to proceed as quickly as possible to ratification so that this convention can fully play its role,” (our translation) he said, returning to a theme he had also addressed March 20 in his opening address to the “Etats Généraux de la Francophonie” in Bucarest, Romania, which will also host Francophonie’s Summit of Heads of State and Government September 25-29.

The statements by Diouf are of a piece with a similar statement in support of rapid ratification of the convention made at a meeting of the assembly of Francophonie parlementarians’ (AFP) commission on education, communication and cultural affairs in Madagascar, March 21 and 22, and a resolution adopted at a meeting of the bureau of the AFP in New Caledonia on February 3 and 4.

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PANARTES Delegates Issue Ratification Call,
Urge Creation of New Coalitions

During their meeting March 30 and 31 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, delegates attending the Fifth General Assembly of PANARTES (the Pan American Federation of Arts, Mass Media and Entertainment Unions) committed to mobilize their organization to persuade countries to ratify the UNESCO convention on the diversity of cultural expressions on a priority basis.

PANARTES is the Pan American wing of Media Entertainment International (MEI), a division of Union Network International (UNI), a global network of more than 900 unions representing 15 million members.

Delegates at the Buenos Aires meeting approved a resolution committing PANARTES to “urge its affiliates immediately to lead in their respective countries a campaign, co-ordinated with the Coalitions for Cultural Diversity” across the Americas for the early ratification by their governments of the UNESCO convention.

In support of their campaign, they will also “favour, through the affiliates of UNI-MEI-PANARTES, the creation of Coalitions in those countries where they have not yet been formed.”

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Coalitions for Cultural Diversity Gather in Toronto
for General Assembly

The question of how to push ahead ratification of the UNESCO convention on the diversity of cultural expressions on a country-by-country basis was the principal focus of discussion when delegates from 24 countries met in Toronto March 19 and 20 for a General Assembly of the delegates of member coalitions of the International Liaison Committee of Coalitions for Cultural Diversity (ILC).

Delegates from the 24 coalitions reported on the state of ratification plans in their own countries, reviewing the mechanisms required to ratify the convention—the vast majority of them entailing at minimum a debate and approval by legislative vote.

A number of delegates—from Brazil , Mexico and Peru —noted that prospects for early ratification could hinge on whether this happened before or after elections set to take place in the year ahead. Others—from Colombia , Peru , and Korea —said recent or ongoing bilateral trade negotiations with the United States have been the central preoccupation of their governments. Delegates from Cameroon , Congo , Ivory Coast and Togo all reported that the ratification process in their countries was in its early stages, and stressed the important role the International Organization of La Francophonie in promoting broad ratification among its member states.

Delegates from European Union countries noted that ratification by their countries would take place within the context of an overall ratification exercise by the European Union. Some countries— France , Belgium —have already initiated their own ratification processes. In any event, once the EU-level ratification takes place, all member states would be bound to ratify at the national government level in a timely fashion.

On March 19, delegates continued this discussion with two officials representing the International Network on Cultural Policy (INCP), the informal network of culture ministers: Artur Wilczynski of the Department of Canadian Heritage, in his capacity as chair of the INCP working group on cultural diversity and globalization, and Kimmo Aulake, Deputy Head of the Division of Cultural Exports, Ministry of Education and Culture, Finland and a member of the INCP working group. This marked the first time an INCP delegation has attended an ILC meeting, and provided an opportunity for discussions of the ways in which the coalitions for cultural diversity can undertake work complementary to the efforts of the INCP to promote ratification.

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ILC, National Coalitions Gear Up to Meet
Ratification Challenge

The first quarter of 2006 saw the International Liaison Committee of Coalitions for Cultural Diversity launch a heavy program of international missions intended to continue the work of mobilizing cultural organizations in the campaign to see the UNESCO campaign ratified quickly—with missions to China , India , Singapore , Finland and Portugal .

As well, the ILC Secretariat was represented in a series of events organized by Coalitions of Cultural Diversity in Argentina , Chile , Uruguay , and Korea .

Highlights:

Argentina : PANARTES General Assembly (March 30-31), BACIFI Film Festival (April 11-17)

For the Fifth General Assembly of PANARTES held on March 30 and 31 in Buenos Aires, Robet Pilon, Executive Vice President of the Canadian Coalition for Cultural Diversity and spokesperson for the International Liaison Committee of Coalitions for Cultural Diversity, joined José Perez Nella, outgoing President of PANARTES, and Horacio Arreceygor, new President of PANARTES and Secretary General of the Argentine television technicians’ union (SAT) for a panel discussion on the UNESCO convention.

Entitled “The ratification process and the work of national coalitions for cultural diversity, the session was attended by some sixty participants from 12 countries representing unions of directors, technicians and other professionals working in the film and television sectors.

Two weeks later, Pilon returned to Buenos Aires and took part in a seminar on cultural diversity held in the context of the Eighth International Festival of Independent Cinema of Buenos Aires (BACIFI 2006). Ratification of the UNESCO convention was the focus of the BACIFI panel held on April 13. Attended by approximately 125 participants, the session was moderated by Bebe Kamin , Vice President of the Argentine directors association (DAC) and a member of the Argentine Coalition, and also featured Pablo Rovito, an independent film producer and Vice President of the Iberoamerican Federation of cinematographic and audiovisual producers. The official opening of the festival also provided Pilon with an opportunity for an informal exchange with Argentine Secretary of Culture José Nun.

Pilon also attended a meeting of the Argentine Coalition on April 12 attended by 15 representatives of the coalition’s member organizations, and provided a report on the outlook for ratification in countries across South America and in other regions of the world.

Chile : Coalition, ILC Meet with Culture Minister

Between April 2 and 5, Pilon was in Santiago , for meetings with the President of the Chilean Coalition, Mané Nett, and its Vice-Presidents, Paulo Slachevsky and Juan Carlos Saez.

Together, the four met with Chile ’s Minister of Culture, Paulina Urrutia, on April 3 to discuss the government’s timetable for ratifying the convention.

Pilon was also invited to attend a meeting of the Chilean Coalition and provide an update regarding the latest developments concerning both the UNESCO convention and current international trade negotiations. The presentation was followed by an exchange with the Chilean Coalition representatives concerning strategies for securing quick ratification of the convention by Chile and other countries in the region.

Uruguay : Coalition, ILC Meet with Senior Officials Re. Ratification Timetable

On April 6, Robert Pilon joined Anna Danieli and Sergio Navato, leaders of Uruguay’s Coalition for Cultural Diversity, for a working lunch with Uruguay’s Under Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Belela Herrera.

That same day, Danieli and Pilon also met with Omar Mesa, Director General of the culture division of Foreign Affairs, and with Luis Mardones, Director of the Culture division of the Ministry of Education and Culture.

While in Uruguay , Pilon also met with representatives of the Uruguayan Coalition for discussions regarding both the UNESCO ratification campaign as well as ongoing international trade negotiations.

China : Discussions with Cultural Organizations, Cultural Officials

Before embarking on his Latin American mission, Pilon, at the invitation of the Province of Quebec’s Ministry of International Relations, travelled to Beijing, China, to deliver a keynote speech on the UNESCO convention and deliver a presentation on the international movement of coalitions for cultural diversity as part of a multi-disciplinary conference on Quebec studies at the University of Foreign Languages of Beijing.

While in Beijing , he met with representatives of Chinese cultural professional organizations and with government officials responsible for their country’s ratification of the UNESCO convention.

Portugal : International Council of Dramatic, Literary and Audiovisual Authors of CISAC ( Lisbon , April 5-6, 2006 )

Debora Abramowicz , Coordinator for the French Coalition for Cultural Diversity and representative of the International Liaison Committee of Coalitions for Cultural Diversity, gave a presentation on the UNESCO Convention for Cultural Diversity and the movement of coalitions at a meeting of the International Council of Dramatic, Literary and Audiovisual Authors of CISAC.

Forty participants, mostly from Europe and South America , expressed their strong support for the principles of the Convention.

With the assistance of the Embassy of France in Lisbon , Abramowicz was also able to use the trip to Lisbon as an opportunity to meet a number of professional organizations devoted to the protection of Portuguese culture.

Singapore : CISAC Committee for the Asia-Pacific Region
( April 18-19, 2006 )

Representatives from a dozen music authors’ and composers’ rights societies from the Asia-Pacific region were very receptive to a presentation made by the French Coalition for Cultural Diversity on the UNESCO Convention and the movement of coalitions. Some countries in the region have developed cultural policies to promote their national culture, while others believe that their political and linguistic borders already afford them sufficient protection. Whatever their situation, the participants agreed on the importance of having international law formally recognize the right of states to adopt and implement the cultural policies best suited to their needs.

Romania : CISAC European Committee ( Bucharest , April 26-27, 2006 )

A roundtable was organized within the framework of the CISAC European Committee on the theme of “Cultural diversity, UNESCO and national coalitions for cultural diversity.”

Debora Abramowicz joined Jean Cavalli for the Swiss Coalition and Robert Osvald for the Slovak coalitions to provide the 75 participants in attendance a presentation on the content of the UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions as well as on international commercial deadlines.

Following the discussions, the participants unanimously adopted a resolution inviting all European states and the European Union to ratify the UNESCO Convention as soon as possible.

January: MIDEM in Cannes , Missions to India , Finland , Korea

In January, Robert Pilon travelled to India to meet with cultural organizations as well as with senior government officials in the Indian ministries of culture and communications over the course of a five-day trip that took him to New Delhi , Mumbai and Calcutta .

Also in January, Pilon was in Cannes for the annual MIDEM industry conference. There, he made a presentation to a meeting of the recently-established international federation of independent music producers, and met with Eric Baptiste, the Director General of CISAC, the international organization of authors’ and composers’ rights societies, and with John Smith, the President of ,FIM, the international Federation of Musicians, and FIM General Secretary Benoit Machuel at the time of the MIDEM music industry conference in Cannes. A similar trip to Brussels was undertaken to meet with Jim Wilson, director of UNI-MEI, the media, entertainment and arts section of Union Network International (UNI), and with Dominique Luquer of FIA, the international federation of actors.

These meetings all shared common themes: to exchange information regarding the status of the UNESCO ratification campaign, assess the potential risks for culture coming from trade negotiations currently underway, and to explore opportunities for increased cooperation between the ILC and these organizations in the context of regional and international gatherings over the next year.

Pilon then travelled to Paris, where, on behalf of the International Liaison Committee of Coalitions for Cultural Diversity (ILC), he met with Clément Duhaime, the newly-appointed chief administrator of the International Organization of La Francophonie for an exchange regarding Francophonie’s plans to promote ratification among the organization’s member states and the ILC’s action plan for supporting similar work in this sphere through country- and regional-level work by Francophonie coalitions, including ongoing efforts to spur the formation of new coalitions.

Also on behalf of the ILC, Pilon joined with Debora Abramowicz , coordinator of the French Coalition (with which the Canadian Coalition shares ILC Secretariat duties) for a meeting with Katerina Stenou, UNESCO’s director of the division of cultural policies and inter-cultural dialogue, for an exchange concerning the ILC and UNESCO’s respective plans for promoting ratification of the convention..

On January 29, Abramowicz and Pilon travelled to Finland to deliver a joint presentation on behalf of the ILC to an officials meeting of the INCP culture ministers network in Helsinki , Finland .

In late January, the government of South Korea announced it would slash the country’s quota for domestic films in half to meet a precondition insisted on by the United States in order to enter into negotiations for a bilateral Free Trade Agreement. At the request of the Korean Coalition, Robert Pilon travelled to Seoul at the beginning of February for an intensive week of media interviews, meetings with legislators, public speaking engagements, and mass demonstrations with the objective of persuading the government to reverse its decision.

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WTO Doha Talks: Another Missed Deadline

The WTO’s latest deadline came and went on April 30 with member states failing for the third time in a row to meet a deadline for establishing precise formulas for cutting agricultural subsidies and tariffs and industrial tariffs.

With the United States and European still at loggerheads on the issue of agricultural subsidies, WTO Director General Pascal Lamy used remarks to an informal heads of delegation meeting on April 24 to try and restore some urgency to the negotiations “This is not a time for blame or recrimination,” Lamy said. “It is absolutely imperative to organize this in an intensive, continuous and effective way if we are to make up for lost time and fulfil our ultimate deadline of concluding the Round this year.”

The December ministerial in Hong Kong set the end of July as the deadline for concluding the agricultural side of the Doha negotiations to clear the remainder of the year for talks on other aspects of the Doha negotiations. But Lamy warned that it was not an option to defer all the major decisions in the agriculture talks until July.

“It is simply not possible to backload the modalities on agriculture and NAMA (industrial tariffs) to July; that would guarantee failure,” he said.

In the view of informed observers, failing to meet the July deadline would make it almost impossible to complete the technical work required to draw up a final Doha package—now already two years behind schedule—before U.S. President George Bush’s ‘fast-track’ negotiating authority from Congress expires in mid-2007.

The dynamic around the talks on agricultural mean it is very much an open question whether any kind of overall agreement will result from the WTO Doha Round. But an atmosphere of crisis seems to be a precondition for real movement by key players in the negotiations, so the possibility of dramatic breakthroughs at the 11 th hour should not be ruled out.

But with only seven months before the end of December target for wrapping the entire round, if a deal is reached it will mean there will be rapid movement on several fronts —and sooner rather than later.

What does this mean for the services round—and the potential pressure they may generate on countries to make commitments on cultural goods and services? The answer is far from clear. But these negotiations are also nearing their moment of truth: July 31 is the deadline for revised offers on services, and October 31 is the deadline for commitments, which effectively concludes the round.

While senior leadership of the WTO has been at pains to emphasize that the question of audiovisual services has hardly been discussed so far in the negotiations, and to characterize as alarmist those who remain wary of the impact of these talks on audiovisual, it is worth noting that at least two plurilateral requests for commitments on audiovisual services are currently circulating.

One request, by a group of countries headed by Taiwan and including Mexico, Japan , the United States and Hong Kong , includes requests for commitments from several countries with significant audiovisual production—the requests focus on the area of motion picture production and distribution, including on content quotas and restrictions on foreign ownership.

The other, headed by Hong Kong and notably including China , Japan , and Mexico , seeks to establish targets for removing and/or more tightly limiting exemptions on the application of the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) principle “with particular focus on the MFN exemptions in audiovisual services.”

Although sources close to the negotiations indicate that so far these requests have found little traction with other member states, cultural organizations would be wise to verify with their governments whether they have been the target of such requests, and urge them to refrain from agreeing to make commitments in these areas.

Nor should they lose sight of the telecom sector, which is also the subject of a plurilateral request made by a group of countries including the Australia, Canada, the European Union, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Norway, Singapore, Taiwan and the United States.While some countries within this group of ‘demandeurs’ state they are limiting the own plans for commitments in this area—for example, by ruling out any change to their current policies on foreign ownership—the reality is that telecom writ large is increasingly overlapping with traditional broadcasting media as channels for distributing audiovisual and other cultural content.

At this point, it is anyone’s guess whether the overall negotiations will culminate in a wide-ranging agreement similar to Uruguay in 1993, or a reprise of the stalemate of the Cancun ministerial in 2003.

What is clear, though, is that whatever is achieved on agriculture and NAMA will set the tone for the services negotiations. Although the two sets of negotiations move on different tracks, and employ different processes, countries contemplating major commitments on agriculture and manufactured goods will do so only if they can exact commitments of a similar magnitude from other countries in the area of services.

Although services negotiations will be taking place the second half of this month in Geneva , the next key deadline to look to remains the July 31 date for filing revised offers. Between now and then, a ministerial meeting focused on the agriculture and manufactured goods negotiations may well take place in Geneva, and the parameters of what is possible in terms of a deal in these areas may have emerged, injecting some energy into the services talks.

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As WTO Doha Round Falters,
U.S. Forges Ahead With Bilaterals

Serious questions about the U.S. commitment to the WTO talks were raised by Bush’s decision in mid-April to pull United States Trade Representative Rob Portman from the negotiations in order to take on the responsibilities of White House budget director, while promoting Susan Schwab, one of Portman’s three deputies, to take on the Trade Representative role.

Bush’s decision to re-assign Portman came not long after he received some very public advice from one of his domestic allies to focus his efforts on concluding bilateral negotiations currently underway.

Quoted in the Financial Times, Bill Thomas, the retiring Republican chairman of the influential House ways and means committee, predicted the mid-term elections in November will result in Congress opposed to new trade agreements.

Thomas expressed profound pessimism about the Doha talks and recommended the President use his remaining period of fast-track authority to conclude bilateral negotiations currently underway. With bilateral talks underway with Ecuador , Thailand , Malaysia , South Korea , the South Africa Customs Union, and the United Arab Emirates , the Bush administration has no small workload on this front.

“For anyone hoping for a significant conclusion to the Doha round, my apologies,” Thomas said. “Whatever the last whiney note is at the Doha round, we should soldier on, but it should not be where the US puts the majority of its resources.

Mr Thomas is credited with a key role in the administration’s one-vote House victory in 2001 for fast-track trade promotion authority (TPA), which enables it to put trade deals for an up-or-down vote without amendments in the Congress, and which is due to expire June 30, 2007

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				Highlights:
	Vol. 4, No. 2, May 2006 The Ratification Campaign Kicks Into Gear: Burkina Faso, Mauritius, Mexico Join Canada as Early Ratifiers of UNESCO Cultural Diversity Convention; May 18 European Council Ratification Decision Sets Stage for Member State Ratifications The goal of seeing the UNESCO convention on the protection and promotion of the diversity of cultural expressions enter into effect at the time of the 2007 General Conference has received an early boost with the news that four countries have now ratified the convention, and that several other countries have set their ratification machinery in gear. Adopted by a landslide vote of 148-2 at UNESCO’s 33 rd General Conference last October, the convention recognizes the distinctive nature of cultural goods and services and affirms in international law the right of countries to apply policies in support of cultural diversity. To enter into effect, it requires ratification by a minimum of 30 countries. While only two countries— Mauritius and Canada —have formally deposited their instruments of ratification with UNESCO, the following reports indicate that this number should grow significantly in the coming weeks and months. Burkina Faso , Mauritius : First in Africa On May 2, Burkina Faso ’s National Assembly voted to ratify the UNESCO convention on the protection and promotion of the diversity of cultural expressions. The decision was hailed by Burkina Faso ’s Coalition for Cultural Diversity, which worked closely with the government to secure fast-track ratification. Rasmané Ouedraogo , President of the Coalition, who had worked closely with Minister of Culture, Arts and TourismAline Koala, helping to prepare the ratification documents on a priority basis, praised the government for moving so quickly to ratify the UNESCO convention. “In particular, we salute our political leaders, chief among them the Head of State His Excellency Blaise Compaore for the close attention they have accorded to culture, and for the immense work they have carried out to bring about this rapid ratification,” he said (Our translation). “I invite my colleagues among national coalitions in Africa to redouble their efforts to ensure ratification of the convention without delay,” Ouedraogo added. Earlier, on March 29, less than six months after last October’s 33rd General Conference, Mauritius became the second country to formally deposit its instrument of ratification with UNESCO, joining Canada , which ratified last November. Mauritius ’s ratification decision was taken two days earlier, on March 27. Meanwhile, Mali , Gabon and Senegal have all launched their ratification processes. Mali ’s ratification is expected to be imminent, as favourable decision on ratification at an April 19 meeting of the council of ministers sets the stage for a vote in the national legislature. Mexico : First in Latin America On April 27, Mexico ’s Senate accorded its approval to a bill to ratify the UNESCO convention. It then referred the instrument to the office of the President for publication in the official government gazette. Following this, the instrument of ratification will be presented to UNESCO after the bill has been published in the official government newspaper. In the run-up to the vote, representatives of the Mexican Coalition for Cultural Diversity had met with several Senators to emphasize the importance that Mexico ’s cultural organizations placed on having the convention ratified quickly. Gabriel Larrea , President of the Coalition, said rapid entry into effect of the convention “will be good news for all countries, but especially for Mexico .” The positive vote in the Mexican Senate was also obtained on a tight deadline, with only a few weeks left in the legislative session, and with presidential elections looming on July 2. Elsewhere in Latin America , although at earlier stages in their processes, Brazil , Chile and Uruguay have all begun preparing their ratifications, with the Brazilian government’s objective reportedly being to complete their ratification by August, before the country heads into the election campaign leading up to the October elections. Coalitions for Cultural Diversity in each of these countries are in regular contact with their governments, monitoring the progress of the ratification process. European Union Approves UNESCO Convention On May 18, the Ministers of Culture of the European Union adopted a decision approving the UNESCO convention on the protection and promotion of the diversity of cultural expressions in the name of the European Community. The text of the proposed decision was the result of an intensive series of discussions in Brussels at the technical level involving representatives of the ministries of culture of EU member states that began back in January. The European Coalitions for Cultural Diversity congratulate the European Commission, the European Parliament and the Council for this fast decision and invite Member States to boost their own internal ratification procedure in order for the Community and the Member States to be part of the first thirty ratifications required for the Convention to enter into force. The European Union will now await ratifications at the national level by a critical mass of member states before depositing jointly their instruments of ratification with UNESCO. The notion of ‘critical mass’ does not correspond to any set number of ratifications. However, it seems likely that the European authorities will wait until several member states have completed their ratifications at the national level. This condition should be met in reasonably short order: early reports indicate that several European states, including Finland , France , Austria , Cyprus as well as Slovakia hope to conclude their ratification processes in the coming months. Caution should be exercised with respect to these projections, however, as the decision of when to file their instruments of ratification will rest with EU officials. This will be a political choice that would be premature to make at this stage. NOTE: As this issue of Coalition Currents was in production, we received word that Croatia and Cambodia have ratified the convention. We will report in more detail in our next issue. Summing Up: A Promising Start, But the Next Year Will be Key Given the news reported above, and with other reports that ratification processes are in at least their preliminary stages in China, India, Switzerland and a number of other countries, there now appears to be a realistic prospect that the 30-country ratification threshold could be met in time for the convention to enter into legal effect at the time of the next General Conference. But meeting this target is by no means a sure thing, given the complexity of legislative ratification processes required by many countries, the reality of looming elections in a number of key leader countries, and the fundamental challenge of ensuring governments accord ratification enough importance to give it priority on the legislative agenda. And because the convention will only enter into effect three months after the 30 th member state deposits its instruments of ratification with UNESCO, this means the ratification threshold must be met by June 2007—just 13 months from now. Many cultural organizations, notably through national coalitions for cultural diversity, have already started their work on this front. They are talking with key ministers in their government—not just ministers responsible for culture, but foreign affairs ministers (in many cases responsible for ratifying treaties), and even heads of government. They are countering arguments coming from some quarters—in some cases from ministries responsible for international trade—against ratifying the convention. And they are holding conferences, seminars and media briefings to increase the public profile of the ratification campaign. The work is straightforward, it is local, and no one can do it more effectively than the organizations themselves. TOP UNESCO DG Touts Convention, But Ratification Program Details Remain Sketchy UNESCO Director General Koïchiro Matsuura used his April 5 speech to the UNESCO’s 59-member Executive Board to emphasize the agency’s intention of promoting widespread ratification of the convention. “Your statements indicate that several among you have already launched the ratification process,” he said. Noting that two and a half years after its adoption the convention on intangible heritage was closing in on its 50 th ratification, he added: “I hope to be able to say the same thing in two years about the 2005 Convention.” “Numerous meetings and communications materials are planned in the course of the current biennium [2006-2007], in particular outside UNESCO headquarters, to increase awareness among member states of what is at stake in the 2005 Convention,” he said. “Four feasibility studies on regional observatories for cultural diversity have also been launched. The development of partnerships with a view to the effective protection and promotion of the diversity of cultural expressions will similarly be at the heart of our efforts.” (Our translation) This all sounds positive. But it also very general. And efforts to track down specifics on what UNESCO actually plans to do in concrete terms don’t get very far. Specifics of UNESCO’s plans to promote ratification of the convention are not yet public. However, a review of UNESCO’s approved 2006-07 program and budget document reveals a noteworthy difference in approach to promoting the convention on the diversity of cultural expressions when compared with that used for the convention on intangible heritage. Specifically, no ratification targets are set out for the new convention. By contrast, a target of 20 ratifications was set for the intangible heritage convention in the 2004-05 program and budget, and a target of a further 20 ratifications is set out in the 2006-07 document. For the convention on the diversity of cultural expressions, the document cites ‘consultations carried out at the national and international levels’ and ‘adhesion of member states to the convention’ as performance indicators—but without setting any specific targets. A concerted push from UNESCO headquarters to promote ratification of the convention among all its member states would be welcome news. However, in a ratification context the fundamental playing field has now shifted to a local national context. Governments of every member state will decide whether they ratify the convention—and when. The requirements in effect in each country for ratifying an international treaty will be an important factor in how long this process takes. The timing of national elections will also have a bearing. But the deciding element, in every case, will be local political will. And on this count, it bears repeating that cultural professional organizations can have a major impact on whether their country acts to ratify the convention within the next 13 months. Coalitions and cultural organizations undertaking local ratification campaigns within their countries should be prepared to counter pressure coming from the United States on their governments not to ratify the convention. Reports from several sources confirm that this pressure has already been brought to bear on a number of governments. It is clear that the intense opposition from the U.S. against the convention—prominent during the negotiations leading up to the adoption vote at last fall’s 33 rd General Conference—is continuing into the ratification phase. TOP La Francophonie Maintains Priority on Ratification of UNESCO Convention The International Organization of La Francophonie continues to be a leading champion of the cultural diversity convention. On April 6, during the 59 th session of the Permanent Council of La Francophonie, Secretary General Abdou Diouf called on the organization’s member states to ratify the convention quickly. “We are all conscious of the need to proceed as quickly as possible to ratification so that this convention can fully play its role,” (our translation) he said, returning to a theme he had also addressed March 20 in his opening address to the “Etats Généraux de la Francophonie” in Bucarest, Romania, which will also host Francophonie’s Summit of Heads of State and Government September 25-29. The statements by Diouf are of a piece with a similar statement in support of rapid ratification of the convention made at a meeting of the assembly of Francophonie parlementarians’ (AFP) commission on education, communication and cultural affairs in Madagascar, March 21 and 22, and a resolution adopted at a meeting of the bureau of the AFP in New Caledonia on February 3 and 4. TOP PANARTES Delegates Issue Ratification Call, Urge Creation of New Coalitions During their meeting March 30 and 31 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, delegates attending the Fifth General Assembly of PANARTES (the Pan American Federation of Arts, Mass Media and Entertainment Unions) committed to mobilize their organization to persuade countries to ratify the UNESCO convention on the diversity of cultural expressions on a priority basis. PANARTES is the Pan American wing of Media Entertainment International (MEI), a division of Union Network International (UNI), a global network of more than 900 unions representing 15 million members. Delegates at the Buenos Aires meeting approved a resolution committing PANARTES to “urge its affiliates immediately to lead in their respective countries a campaign, co-ordinated with the Coalitions for Cultural Diversity” across the Americas for the early ratification by their governments of the UNESCO convention. In support of their campaign, they will also “favour, through the affiliates of UNI-MEI-PANARTES, the creation of Coalitions in those countries where they have not yet been formed.” TOP Coalitions for Cultural Diversity Gather in Toronto for General Assembly The question of how to push ahead ratification of the UNESCO convention on the diversity of cultural expressions on a country-by-country basis was the principal focus of discussion when delegates from 24 countries met in Toronto March 19 and 20 for a General Assembly of the delegates of member coalitions of the International Liaison Committee of Coalitions for Cultural Diversity (ILC). Delegates from the 24 coalitions reported on the state of ratification plans in their own countries, reviewing the mechanisms required to ratify the convention—the vast majority of them entailing at minimum a debate and approval by legislative vote. A number of delegates—from Brazil , Mexico and Peru —noted that prospects for early ratification could hinge on whether this happened before or after elections set to take place in the year ahead. Others—from Colombia , Peru , and Korea —said recent or ongoing bilateral trade negotiations with the United States have been the central preoccupation of their governments. Delegates from Cameroon , Congo , Ivory Coast and Togo all reported that the ratification process in their countries was in its early stages, and stressed the important role the International Organization of La Francophonie in promoting broad ratification among its member states. Delegates from European Union countries noted that ratification by their countries would take place within the context of an overall ratification exercise by the European Union. Some countries— France , Belgium —have already initiated their own ratification processes. In any event, once the EU-level ratification takes place, all member states would be bound to ratify at the national government level in a timely fashion. On March 19, delegates continued this discussion with two officials representing the International Network on Cultural Policy (INCP), the informal network of culture ministers: Artur Wilczynski of the Department of Canadian Heritage, in his capacity as chair of the INCP working group on cultural diversity and globalization, and Kimmo Aulake, Deputy Head of the Division of Cultural Exports, Ministry of Education and Culture, Finland and a member of the INCP working group. This marked the first time an INCP delegation has attended an ILC meeting, and provided an opportunity for discussions of the ways in which the coalitions for cultural diversity can undertake work complementary to the efforts of the INCP to promote ratification. TOP ILC, National Coalitions Gear Up to Meet Ratification Challenge The first quarter of 2006 saw the International Liaison Committee of Coalitions for Cultural Diversity launch a heavy program of international missions intended to continue the work of mobilizing cultural organizations in the campaign to see the UNESCO campaign ratified quickly—with missions to China , India , Singapore , Finland and Portugal . As well, the ILC Secretariat was represented in a series of events organized by Coalitions of Cultural Diversity in Argentina , Chile , Uruguay , and Korea . Highlights: Argentina : PANARTES General Assembly (March 30-31), BACIFI Film Festival (April 11-17) For the Fifth General Assembly of PANARTES held on March 30 and 31 in Buenos Aires, Robet Pilon, Executive Vice President of the Canadian Coalition for Cultural Diversity and spokesperson for the International Liaison Committee of Coalitions for Cultural Diversity, joined José Perez Nella, outgoing President of PANARTES, and Horacio Arreceygor, new President of PANARTES and Secretary General of the Argentine television technicians’ union (SAT) for a panel discussion on the UNESCO convention. Entitled “The ratification process and the work of national coalitions for cultural diversity, the session was attended by some sixty participants from 12 countries representing unions of directors, technicians and other professionals working in the film and television sectors. Two weeks later, Pilon returned to Buenos Aires and took part in a seminar on cultural diversity held in the context of the Eighth International Festival of Independent Cinema of Buenos Aires (BACIFI 2006). Ratification of the UNESCO convention was the focus of the BACIFI panel held on April 13. Attended by approximately 125 participants, the session was moderated by Bebe Kamin , Vice President of the Argentine directors association (DAC) and a member of the Argentine Coalition, and also featured Pablo Rovito, an independent film producer and Vice President of the Iberoamerican Federation of cinematographic and audiovisual producers. The official opening of the festival also provided Pilon with an opportunity for an informal exchange with Argentine Secretary of Culture José Nun. Pilon also attended a meeting of the Argentine Coalition on April 12 attended by 15 representatives of the coalition’s member organizations, and provided a report on the outlook for ratification in countries across South America and in other regions of the world. Chile : Coalition, ILC Meet with Culture Minister Between April 2 and 5, Pilon was in Santiago , for meetings with the President of the Chilean Coalition, Mané Nett, and its Vice-Presidents, Paulo Slachevsky and Juan Carlos Saez. Together, the four met with Chile ’s Minister of Culture, Paulina Urrutia, on April 3 to discuss the government’s timetable for ratifying the convention. Pilon was also invited to attend a meeting of the Chilean Coalition and provide an update regarding the latest developments concerning both the UNESCO convention and current international trade negotiations. The presentation was followed by an exchange with the Chilean Coalition representatives concerning strategies for securing quick ratification of the convention by Chile and other countries in the region. Uruguay : Coalition, ILC Meet with Senior Officials Re. Ratification Timetable On April 6, Robert Pilon joined Anna Danieli and Sergio Navato, leaders of Uruguay’s Coalition for Cultural Diversity, for a working lunch with Uruguay’s Under Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Belela Herrera. That same day, Danieli and Pilon also met with Omar Mesa, Director General of the culture division of Foreign Affairs, and with Luis Mardones, Director of the Culture division of the Ministry of Education and Culture. While in Uruguay , Pilon also met with representatives of the Uruguayan Coalition for discussions regarding both the UNESCO ratification campaign as well as ongoing international trade negotiations. China : Discussions with Cultural Organizations, Cultural Officials Before embarking on his Latin American mission, Pilon, at the invitation of the Province of Quebec’s Ministry of International Relations, travelled to Beijing, China, to deliver a keynote speech on the UNESCO convention and deliver a presentation on the international movement of coalitions for cultural diversity as part of a multi-disciplinary conference on Quebec studies at the University of Foreign Languages of Beijing. While in Beijing , he met with representatives of Chinese cultural professional organizations and with government officials responsible for their country’s ratification of the UNESCO convention. Portugal : International Council of Dramatic, Literary and Audiovisual Authors of CISAC ( Lisbon , April 5-6, 2006 ) Debora Abramowicz , Coordinator for the French Coalition for Cultural Diversity and representative of the International Liaison Committee of Coalitions for Cultural Diversity, gave a presentation on the UNESCO Convention for Cultural Diversity and the movement of coalitions at a meeting of the International Council of Dramatic, Literary and Audiovisual Authors of CISAC. Forty participants, mostly from Europe and South America , expressed their strong support for the principles of the Convention. With the assistance of the Embassy of France in Lisbon , Abramowicz was also able to use the trip to Lisbon as an opportunity to meet a number of professional organizations devoted to the protection of Portuguese culture. Singapore : CISAC Committee for the Asia-Pacific Region ( April 18-19, 2006 ) Representatives from a dozen music authors’ and composers’ rights societies from the Asia-Pacific region were very receptive to a presentation made by the French Coalition for Cultural Diversity on the UNESCO Convention and the movement of coalitions. Some countries in the region have developed cultural policies to promote their national culture, while others believe that their political and linguistic borders already afford them sufficient protection. Whatever their situation, the participants agreed on the importance of having international law formally recognize the right of states to adopt and implement the cultural policies best suited to their needs. Romania : CISAC European Committee ( Bucharest , April 26-27, 2006 ) A roundtable was organized within the framework of the CISAC European Committee on the theme of “Cultural diversity, UNESCO and national coalitions for cultural diversity.” Debora Abramowicz joined Jean Cavalli for the Swiss Coalition and Robert Osvald for the Slovak coalitions to provide the 75 participants in attendance a presentation on the content of the UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions as well as on international commercial deadlines. Following the discussions, the participants unanimously adopted a resolution inviting all European states and the European Union to ratify the UNESCO Convention as soon as possible. January: MIDEM in Cannes , Missions to India , Finland , Korea In January, Robert Pilon travelled to India to meet with cultural organizations as well as with senior government officials in the Indian ministries of culture and communications over the course of a five-day trip that took him to New Delhi , Mumbai and Calcutta . Also in January, Pilon was in Cannes for the annual MIDEM industry conference. There, he made a presentation to a meeting of the recently-established international federation of independent music producers, and met with Eric Baptiste, the Director General of CISAC, the international organization of authors’ and composers’ rights societies, and with John Smith, the President of ,FIM, the international Federation of Musicians, and FIM General Secretary Benoit Machuel at the time of the MIDEM music industry conference in Cannes. A similar trip to Brussels was undertaken to meet with Jim Wilson, director of UNI-MEI, the media, entertainment and arts section of Union Network International (UNI), and with Dominique Luquer of FIA, the international federation of actors. These meetings all shared common themes: to exchange information regarding the status of the UNESCO ratification campaign, assess the potential risks for culture coming from trade negotiations currently underway, and to explore opportunities for increased cooperation between the ILC and these organizations in the context of regional and international gatherings over the next year. Pilon then travelled to Paris, where, on behalf of the International Liaison Committee of Coalitions for Cultural Diversity (ILC), he met with Clément Duhaime, the newly-appointed chief administrator of the International Organization of La Francophonie for an exchange regarding Francophonie’s plans to promote ratification among the organization’s member states and the ILC’s action plan for supporting similar work in this sphere through country- and regional-level work by Francophonie coalitions, including ongoing efforts to spur the formation of new coalitions. Also on behalf of the ILC, Pilon joined with Debora Abramowicz , coordinator of the French Coalition (with which the Canadian Coalition shares ILC Secretariat duties) for a meeting with Katerina Stenou, UNESCO’s director of the division of cultural policies and inter-cultural dialogue, for an exchange concerning the ILC and UNESCO’s respective plans for promoting ratification of the convention.. On January 29, Abramowicz and Pilon travelled to Finland to deliver a joint presentation on behalf of the ILC to an officials meeting of the INCP culture ministers network in Helsinki , Finland . In late January, the government of South Korea announced it would slash the country’s quota for domestic films in half to meet a precondition insisted on by the United States in order to enter into negotiations for a bilateral Free Trade Agreement. At the request of the Korean Coalition, Robert Pilon travelled to Seoul at the beginning of February for an intensive week of media interviews, meetings with legislators, public speaking engagements, and mass demonstrations with the objective of persuading the government to reverse its decision. TOP WTO Doha Talks: Another Missed Deadline The WTO’s latest deadline came and went on April 30 with member states failing for the third time in a row to meet a deadline for establishing precise formulas for cutting agricultural subsidies and tariffs and industrial tariffs. With the United States and European still at loggerheads on the issue of agricultural subsidies, WTO Director General Pascal Lamy used remarks to an informal heads of delegation meeting on April 24 to try and restore some urgency to the negotiations “This is not a time for blame or recrimination,” Lamy said. “It is absolutely imperative to organize this in an intensive, continuous and effective way if we are to make up for lost time and fulfil our ultimate deadline of concluding the Round this year.” The December ministerial in Hong Kong set the end of July as the deadline for concluding the agricultural side of the Doha negotiations to clear the remainder of the year for talks on other aspects of the Doha negotiations. But Lamy warned that it was not an option to defer all the major decisions in the agriculture talks until July. “It is simply not possible to backload the modalities on agriculture and NAMA (industrial tariffs) to July; that would guarantee failure,” he said. In the view of informed observers, failing to meet the July deadline would make it almost impossible to complete the technical work required to draw up a final Doha package—now already two years behind schedule—before U.S. President George Bush’s ‘fast-track’ negotiating authority from Congress expires in mid-2007. The dynamic around the talks on agricultural mean it is very much an open question whether any kind of overall agreement will result from the WTO Doha Round. But an atmosphere of crisis seems to be a precondition for real movement by key players in the negotiations, so the possibility of dramatic breakthroughs at the 11 th hour should not be ruled out. But with only seven months before the end of December target for wrapping the entire round, if a deal is reached it will mean there will be rapid movement on several fronts —and sooner rather than later. What does this mean for the services round—and the potential pressure they may generate on countries to make commitments on cultural goods and services? The answer is far from clear. But these negotiations are also nearing their moment of truth: July 31 is the deadline for revised offers on services, and October 31 is the deadline for commitments, which effectively concludes the round. While senior leadership of the WTO has been at pains to emphasize that the question of audiovisual services has hardly been discussed so far in the negotiations, and to characterize as alarmist those who remain wary of the impact of these talks on audiovisual, it is worth noting that at least two plurilateral requests for commitments on audiovisual services are currently circulating. One request, by a group of countries headed by Taiwan and including Mexico, Japan , the United States and Hong Kong , includes requests for commitments from several countries with significant audiovisual production—the requests focus on the area of motion picture production and distribution, including on content quotas and restrictions on foreign ownership. The other, headed by Hong Kong and notably including China , Japan , and Mexico , seeks to establish targets for removing and/or more tightly limiting exemptions on the application of the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) principle “with particular focus on the MFN exemptions in audiovisual services.” Although sources close to the negotiations indicate that so far these requests have found little traction with other member states, cultural organizations would be wise to verify with their governments whether they have been the target of such requests, and urge them to refrain from agreeing to make commitments in these areas. Nor should they lose sight of the telecom sector, which is also the subject of a plurilateral request made by a group of countries including the Australia, Canada, the European Union, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Norway, Singapore, Taiwan and the United States.While some countries within this group of ‘demandeurs’ state they are limiting the own plans for commitments in this area—for example, by ruling out any change to their current policies on foreign ownership—the reality is that telecom writ large is increasingly overlapping with traditional broadcasting media as channels for distributing audiovisual and other cultural content. At this point, it is anyone’s guess whether the overall negotiations will culminate in a wide-ranging agreement similar to Uruguay in 1993, or a reprise of the stalemate of the Cancun ministerial in 2003. What is clear, though, is that whatever is achieved on agriculture and NAMA will set the tone for the services negotiations. Although the two sets of negotiations move on different tracks, and employ different processes, countries contemplating major commitments on agriculture and manufactured goods will do so only if they can exact commitments of a similar magnitude from other countries in the area of services. Although services negotiations will be taking place the second half of this month in Geneva , the next key deadline to look to remains the July 31 date for filing revised offers. Between now and then, a ministerial meeting focused on the agriculture and manufactured goods negotiations may well take place in Geneva, and the parameters of what is possible in terms of a deal in these areas may have emerged, injecting some energy into the services talks. TOP As WTO Doha Round Falters, U.S. Forges Ahead With Bilaterals Serious questions about the U.S. commitment to the WTO talks were raised by Bush’s decision in mid-April to pull United States Trade Representative Rob Portman from the negotiations in order to take on the responsibilities of White House budget director, while promoting Susan Schwab, one of Portman’s three deputies, to take on the Trade Representative role. Bush’s decision to re-assign Portman came not long after he received some very public advice from one of his domestic allies to focus his efforts on concluding bilateral negotiations currently underway. Quoted in the Financial Times, Bill Thomas, the retiring Republican chairman of the influential House ways and means committee, predicted the mid-term elections in November will result in Congress opposed to new trade agreements. Thomas expressed profound pessimism about the Doha talks and recommended the President use his remaining period of fast-track authority to conclude bilateral negotiations currently underway. With bilateral talks underway with Ecuador , Thailand , Malaysia , South Korea , the South Africa Customs Union, and the United Arab Emirates , the Bush administration has no small workload on this front. “For anyone hoping for a significant conclusion to the Doha round, my apologies,” Thomas said. “Whatever the last whiney note is at the Doha round, we should soldier on, but it should not be where the US puts the majority of its resources. Mr Thomas is credited with a key role in the administration’s one-vote House victory in 2001 for fast-track trade promotion authority (TPA), which enables it to put trade deals for an up-or-down vote without amendments in the Congress, and which is due to expire June 30, 2007 TOP			The Ratification Campaign Kicks Into Gear: Burkina Faso , Mauritius , Mexico Join Canada as Early Ratifiers of UNESCO Cultural Diversity Convention; May 18 European Council Ratification Decision Sets Stage for Member State Ratifications UNESCO DG Touts Convention, But Ratification Program Details Remain Sketchy La Francophonie Maintains Priority on Ratification of UNESCO Convention PANARTES Delegates Issue Ratification Call, Urge Creation of New Coalitions Coalitions for Cultural Diversity Gather in Toronto for General Assembly ILC, National Coalitions Gear Up to Meet Ratification Challenge WTO Doha Talks: Another Missed Deadline As WTO Doha Round Falters, U.S. Forges Ahead With Bilaterals Coalition Currents is published by the Secretariat for the International Liaison Committee of Coalitions for Cultural Diversity (ILC). Member Coalitions: Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Benin, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Congo, Ecuador, France, Germany, Guinea, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Ivory Coast, Korea, Mali, Morocco, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Portugal, Senegal, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland, Togo, Tunisia, Uruguay, Venezuela. 154 Laurier Ave. West, Suite 240 Montreal, QUE H2T 2N7 T. (514) 277-2666 F. (514) 277-9994 www.coalitionfrancaise.org e-mail: Editor: Jim McKee Contributors in this issue: Robert Pilon, Bruno Bettati, Mélanie Marron, Jean-Luc Pilon, Lise Bourgeau, Marisol Paquin We welcome re-use of material from this bulletin with attribution. Coalition Currents is published with the financial assistance of Canada’s Department of Canadian Heritage, Department of Foreign Affairs, the Government of Quebec, the Ministry of Culture of Ontario, and the Government of New Brunswick