EU ready to give more ground in trade talks

APR. 11 6:50 A.M. ET - EU trade chief Peter Mandelson said Tuesday the European Union was ready to give more ground in world trade talks but it needed to see similar concessions from other trade partners.

'I am prepared for Europe to do more than we currently have offered. What I am not prepared to see is do these things and get literally, or next to, nothing in return,' he told the European Policy Centre think tank in Brussels.
He said the EU was looking for a 'proportionate effort' to bridge the wide gaps that remain before an end of April deadline for a new trade deal aimed at cutting tariffs and subsidies. Mandelson stressed a breakthrough would mean new business opportunities for all sides.

'There are a limited number of cards left on the table and they are the big ones,' he said.

The 149 members of the World Trade Organization were supposed to agree on tariff and subsidies-cutting formulas last year, but the deadline was postponed until a major December meeting in Hong Kong, then put back again to April in Geneva.

Mandelson said he was 'more encouraged' by the recent talks between countries on efforts to open up the world services market.

He blamed 'a whirl of NGO-driven and rather synthetic backlash' at the Hong Kong negotiations in December for holding back talks that he claimed could bring trade benefits to the world's poorer countries.

'I think that those developing countries who realize that and embrace it have a much greater chance of achieving their economic potential than those who want to remain inward-looking and closed,' he said.

Faced with a lack of progress, some officials have cast doubt on the April deadline for progress in the Doha round of world trade talks. Named for the Qatari capital where it was launched by the WTO in 2001, the round aims to boost the global economy and reduce poverty by lowering trade barriers across all sectors.

In the complex talks involving 149 WTO members, the EU and United States are seeking greater concessions from major developing countries like Brazil and India on industrial goods and services. Developing nations want more access to agricultural and other markets. Traditional sniping between the EU and United States has further stalled progress.