Rio De Janeiro, Brazil – Developing nations on Saturday called on rich countries to restart trade global trade talks, saying the suspension of negotiations not only threatened the current round of discussions but also the multilateral trading system itself.
The Doha Round – named after the Qatari capital where they were started in 2001 – is aimed at slashing trade barriers across the planet. But the Doha talks stalled in July over the question of rich nations’ subsidies for agriculture.
Developing nations are demanding greater market access for their agricultural products while developed nations complain of barriers in emerging markets for their industrialized goods and services.
“Not only is the round threatened, but the multilateral trading system itself now faces a serious crisis,” said the statement issued by the emerging market nations of the Group of 20. “This is an unacceptable situation for all developing countries.” But at the start of talks, the trade representatives from nearly 30 nations seemed determined to plow ahead even though neither side seemed prepared to give much ground.
“The simple fact that we are meeting here demonstrates our engagement with the negotiations,” Brazil’s Foreign Minister Celso Amorim said in his opening remarks. “We are living a unique moment where developing companies are saying, ‘We need more access and less restrictions. Failure is simply not an option.”‘ The talks Saturday marked the first meeting of its kind since World Trade Organization discussions stalled.
Analysts said the presence of U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab, EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson, WTO chief Pascal Lamy and Japanese Agriculture Minister Shoichi Nakagawa was a positive sign but that gaps between the two groups would be difficult to bridge. The four will meet with G-20 members Sunday.
Philippe de Pontet, an analyst with the Eurasia Group consulting firm, said that an immediate resumption of talks was unrealistic.
“More plausible would be a return to the negotiating table in November or early December,” he said. “With all of the key trade ministers present at Rio, a declaration to that effect may well emerge, especially since Brazil, the host, backs the idea.” But the G-20 statement made clear developing nations were unlikely to back off their key demands developed nations do away with agricultural subsidies and tariff barriers for their farm products.
“Most of the world’s poor make their living out of agriculture.
Their livelihood and standards of living are seriously jeopardized by subsidies and market access barriers prevailing in international agricultural trade,” the statement said.
Powerful farm lobbies in the United States, Europe and Japan, however, strongly oppose an end to subsidies, which they fear will leave them unable to compete with the flood of cheap imports.
Indian Commerce Minister Kamal Nath said it was up to the developed countries to take the lead in talks.
“It’s a disappointment that there is an impasse in the Doha round,” Nath said prior to the meeting’s start. “We need the developed countries to exercise leadership in this development round and take the step forward to make sure that content of the round is not compromised.” U.S. trade representative Schwab said she was “actively seeking a new way forward for the Doha Round.” “We need to add new voices to this dialogue and find open-minded trading partners that share the goal of an ambitious round,” Schwab said in statement.
Supporters say a successful round will boost the global economy and lift poor countries out of misery. But opponents contend a binding WTO trade treaty will simply reap more profits for multinational companies while virtually enslaving workers in developing nations.
The entire process is rapidly running out of time because President Bush’s authority to “fast track” the trade deal expires in mid-2007. The fast-track mechanism enables U.S. envoys to negotiate an agreement that can be submitted to Congress for a yes-or-no vote without amendments.
The G-20, formed in 2003, includes Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, China, Cuba, Egypt, Guatemala, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Paraguay, the Philippines, South Africa, Tanzania, Thailand, Uruguay, Venezuela and Zimbabwe.
