| WTO talks yield a clear agenda, if little else
Stephen Mbogo
Nairobi Correspondent
March 7, 2005 GLOBAL trade officials from poor and rich countries had achieved ôa sense of shared prioritiesö to take to the sixth round of World Trade Organisation (WTO) trade liberalisation talks in Hong Kong, China, in December, an analyst said at the weekend. A trade analyst, who attended two days of preliminary WTO negotiations in Kenya last week ahead of DecemberÆs big meeting, said: ôDeveloped states must be seen to take action on issues of concern to developing countries rather than to give æmere rhetoricÆ.ö Trade ministers and representatives from 31 WTO member states concluded a two-day meeting on Friday in the Kenyan coastal city of Mombasa by agreeing on an initial tariffs elimination formula that may boost the success of the Hong Kong meeting later this year. ôWe donÆt have the same position on all the issues, but at least we have a sense of shared priorities on what issues we need to address to move to the next stage,ö acting US trade representative Peter Allgeier said. ôWe agreed to table initial calculations for tariff-cutting formulas in farm trade by April, and decide similar formulas for industrial tariffs by June,ö said Kenyan Trade Minister Mukhisa Kityui. The European Union (EU), US and Australia urged those WTO states which had not submitted fresh proposals for liberalising their service sectors to do so by the end-May deadline. The WTO wants initial agreements by the end of July in areas such as farm and industrial goods, services and development issues to clear the way for a December meeting where a draft deal will be approved. EU trade commissioner Peter Mandelson made a case for poorer states, saying all industrialised countries must commit themselves this year to giving duty- and quota-free market access to the entire worldÆs least developed countries by the end of the current Doha trade round next year. Mandelson said the EU would support temporary exemptions for poor states that needed more time to implement new trade rules, and push for extra aid to help countries to improve trading facilities. ôIn the months to come we should make an effort to translate these plans into concrete action leading to better and more aid for trade adjustment,ö Mandelson said. ôI am going to push this hard in Europe.ö But Oduor OngÆwen of the Southern and Eastern African Trade, Information and Negotiations Institute told Business Day that the EU has repeated those sentiments for a decade and should now take action on developing statesÆ demands. OngÆwen said the EU knew ôtoo wellö that only 1% of its population depended on agriculture to survive, compared with only 20% of the population in developing states ù yet it had failed to end export subsidies of its farming sectors. OngÆwen also took issue with the EU consumer standards on commodity exports from developing states, calling them unfair and protectionist. ôWe donÆt mind standards that take care of human and animal health. But those imposed by the EU are above the global standards,ö he said. OngÆwen said the resolve of the EU to help poor countries gain from free global trade must be tested against its talks for Economic Partnership Agreements with African, Caribbean and Pacific states. The EU wants greater access to these statesÆ markets. Kituyi said the Mombasa meeting was able to identify key elements that need political guidance in order to expedite the process of negotiations at a technical level in a focused manner. ôWe are committed to a successful sixth WTO ministerial conference and setting the stage for the final phase of the Doha round in 2006,ö Kituyi said. Developing countries were also put on the spot for insisting that only those issues that benefited them, particularly farm trade, should be prioritised at the Mombasa meeting. Delegates from Brazil had, for instance, wanted talks on liberalising trade in the services sectors shelved in favour of farm trade reforms, including how such reforms related to development in poorer countries. The EU promised in July last year to stop directly subsidising agricultural exports to give farmers in developing states a better chance in world markets. However, the offer was conditional on other rich states making similar concessions. The US has made a similar offer. But it wants any reduction of farm aid to be matched by concessions from developing states on trade in services. http://www.businessday.co.za/articles/world.aspx?ID=BD4A25453
| 
