WTO Talks in Hong Kong Reach Critical Point

With time running out in trade talks meant to help poor countries develop, richer nations and poorer ones are struggling to agree on which agricultural trade concessions need to be made for the six-day World Trade Organisation meeting in Hong Kong to be considered a success.

|PIC1|Christian organisations emphasised at the beginning of the talks that richer nations had to eliminate trade-distorting barriers such as agricultural export subsidies that protect their own farmers, as well as provide more aid to help the least developed countries become more capable trading partners.

The Group of 20 leading developing nations and the Cairns Group of major food exporters said in a statement on Thursday that both the European and US offers are not enough and are asking for more cuts in government subsidies.

"There are many hundreds of millions of people across the world living in poverty-stricken countries who are looking to us to improve their opportunities by negotiating better market access," said Mark Vaile, trade minister of Australia, a member of the Cairns Group.

Also Ceso Amorim, the Brazilian foreign minister who leads the trade talks of the G20 - which includes various middle income nations such as China, Brazil and India – announced that all 110 developing nations had united in one group known as the G110, according to BBC. They will try to agree on a stance that will pull the meetings to focus on their needs, according to the Times of London.

|TOP|Showing some progress in helping the poorest of the poor nations, negotiators on Friday agreed on draft text for a trade package that would give 32 of the WTO’s least developed nations duty-free and quota-free access to markets around the world, according to reports.

However the whole body must approve on that part of the “ministerial text” by Sunday, the last day of the meeting.

There are various points of contention among the various countries involved in talks. One of the main issues is to agree on a date that the export subsidies should be wiped out.

"I hope we can do export subsidies. I think there's still a shot at that," top U.S. Trade negotiator Rob Portman told Reuters on Friday. The countries are hoping to arrive at a final free trade deal by the end of 2006 or early 2007.

"To set a date at this meeting would send a great signal, particularly to the developing countries," Portman said.

|AD|U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns said in a press conference on Thursday that its offer for trade made in October had been “ambitious.”

“Two months ago, we presented a bold and ambitious agriculture proposal to increase market access, reduce trade-distorting domestic support, and eliminate export subsidies,” said Johanns at the press conference in Hong Kong. He emphasised, however, that along with agricultural reform, it wanted better access to poor markets.

On Thursday, Johanns said that the United States, in addition to its previous proposal, would increase its “Aid for Trade” grants this year from US$1.34 billion to US$2.7 billion by 2010.

In his comments, Johanns also said that the European Union had not responded positively to its two-month old proposal on agricultural reform.

On Friday EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson said that it had not proposed a final date for eliminating agricultural export subsidies because others "are not even at first base" with reforms.

"For the EU to offer a final date for eliminating export subsidies before others have even made equivalent commitments to reform would be senseless," said Mandelson.

On Thursday, the EU commissioner said Europe would not change its stance. The EU has already said it would offer an average cut of 46 percent in farm tariffs.

“We are going to stick to our position,” he said, according to AP. Mandelson wants greater industrial trade opportunities in exchange for more agriculture concessions from poorer nations.

Christian advocacy group Bread for the World took part in the talks with US President Bush and the US Secretary of State two weeks ago. It has sent a delegate to Hong Kong who is monitoring developments and is also working together with five or six other non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to draft a statement assessing the talks at the end of the meeting on Sunday, according to the organization’s spokesman John Brennan. Organisations include National Catholic Rural Life and Oxfam America.

"As negotiations continue, Bread for the World remains cautiously optimistic that an agreement to help trade for developing nations will be the outcome of the meeting," he added.









Francis Helguero
Christian Today Correspondent