Agence France Presse | By CLAIRE DE OLIVIEIRA | September 4, 2003
BRASILIA -- The government of Brazilian President Luiz Ignacio Lula da Silva is appealing for greater solidarity among developing countries attending a WTO conference next week in their fight to tear down trade barriers in the developed world.
The Brazilian leader recently called on developing nations "to unite in order to increase the chances of reaching a satisfactory outcome" to trade liberalization negotiations, which are at the heart of a WTO ministerial meeting in Cancun, Mexico September 10-14.
Lula has also been sharply critical of appeals from rich countries for a freer global flow of goods and services.
"When it comes to putting it into practice, we see that their notion of free trade is not as free as they say it is," he charged.
Brazil recently dismissed as "too timid" a joint proposal drafted last month by the United States and the European Union aimed at reducing government agricultural subsidies.
WTO members have denounced those US and EU subsidies, since the practices cripple the ability of farmers in poor countries to compete in global markets.
Brazil and 16 other developing nations on August 20 put forward another proposal at the WTO that they said would widen the scope of the farm subsidy debate.
"We are now at an impasse," said Mario Laviola, an advisor to the Brazilian Foreign Trade Association.
"The timid proposals of the EU and the United States were not well received in Brazil, where agriculture is the principal issue.
"We need a stronger commitment on their part."
Added Maurice Costin, head of the international relations department at the Sao Paulo Industrial Federation: "I hope that wisdom will prevail. Let's have an agreement on what is the minimum acceptable to each party. But I have the impression that the US and EU position is too rigid."
Costin noted that the European Union was preparing to accept 10 new members and that certain current members, notably France and Germany, "have serious budgetary problems and are not going to be able to continue giving subsidies to their farmers."
"It's the right moment to reach an agreement," he said.
Agriculture is also at the heart of negotiations on the creation of a Free Trade Association of the Americas, planned for 2005.
"This agreement and all regional negotiations depend greatly on agriculture," Costin said. "It's been under discussion for a four to five years but little progress has been made."
Lula has urged South American countries to forge a joint stand in the negotiations on the creation of the Free Trade Association.
"If we are not united we cannot compete with the United States," he has argued.
Before his election he dismissed the Free Trade Association of the Americas as a "process to annex Brazil to the United States."
Costin has meanwhile stressed that in addition to agricultural subsidies, the WTO conference must grapple with regulations on the protection of intellectual property and government procurement as well as "anti-dumping" practices employed by some countries to defend themselves against imports judged to have been priced at unfairly low levels.Agence France Presse:
