Key mediators warned Tuesday that failure to agree on a draft of a global trade treaty at next week's gathering of the World Trade Organization could doom talks indefinitely.
Mediators vowed to step up efforts to bridge differences ahead of the meeting of trade ministers in Geneva starting July 27. The gathering will aim to finish a framework for a legally binding treaty to cut import duties and regulate government subsidies.
"We must be able to reach an agreement this time," WTO Director-General Supachai Panitchpakdi told reporters Tuesday. "Otherwise the implications, not just for the round (of talks), but for the organization, would be something I would not like to think about."
A failure to agree on draft guidelines next week could delay the current round of talks indefinitely, Supachai warned. Without agreement, the talks likely will remain paralyzed for many months because of the U.S. presidential elections and the changeover of power at the European Commission.
The main dispute centers on agriculture.
Poor nations have demanded massive cuts in the billions rich nations pay in subsidies to their own farmers, arguing the subsidies undercut poorer countries' ability to compete in world markets.
The complex draft compromise proposes a system that would ensure that high import tariffs are cut by a larger percentage than lower ones - a key demand of many agricultural exporters.
However it also leaves room for nations to make smaller cuts to import charges on products they consider "sensitive" - often products that are crucial to their domestic farming industries. Those products also include quality items known by the area in which they are produced - such as France's Champagne or Roquefort cheese.
The WTO's Supachai and Japanese Ambassador Notaro Oshima - who chairs the 147-nation WTO's ruling General Council - have been meeting with delegations to promote their compromise text, which they put forward last Friday.
Oshima said he remained hopeful that members could build on the text to reach an agreement.
Supachai noted that the proposal was "an accurate and balanced reflection of the positions of the members" but that the discussions so far this week had been slightly disappointing.
"I am hoping that what we have heard ... are the initial reactions to the draft text and not the final positions."
The so-called Group of 10 heavy farm importers - which includes Israel, Japan and Switzerland - has made the strongest objections to the proposal.
The block - which is holding out for the preservation of high import tariffs in agriculture - said proposals were still unbalanced.
The proposed framework for a legally binding treaty was originally due to be completed at a meeting of ministers in Cancun, Mexico, last September. But those talks collapsed.
Meanwhile, the United States has requested a special July 30 meeting of the WTO's Dispute Settlement Body to seek authority to impose US$143 million in trade sanctions against Japan in a dispute over the import of apples.
Japan has imposed restrictions on imports of U.S. apples to prevent fire blight, a bacterial disease found in the United States that can reduce yields and kill trees, from reaching Japan.
But a WTO trade panel ruled in December 2003 that the Japanese restrictions were illegal after the United States argued that the disease could not be carried on mature, symptomless apples, which are the only types allowed for export.
The WTO is also preparing for probable anti-globalization demonstrations during next week's meeting.Associated Press:
