Trading nations have given a mixed reception so far to a final attempt by the World Trade Organisation to broker a compromise in deadlocked global trade talks by the end of the month.
As informal discussions continued in Geneva, WTO Director General Supachai Panitchpakdi reiterated Tuesday that the compromise text released Friday struck a balance between the 147 member states.
"The discussions have been well balanced, disappointing in some areas where some countries are putting out so many demands," Supachai told journalists, adding that it would take too long to accommodate those demands.
The G-20 group of developing countries on Tuesday followed the European Union in supporting the proposals as a starting point for the effort to bridge the gap between trading nations.
Brazil's ambassador, Luiz Felipe de Seixas Correa, representing the group, said its members had decided that they could accept the text on agriculture as a reasonable basis for further work, a trade source said.
But the ambassador also warned the meeting at WTO headquarters that much more work needed to be done, the source added.
The EU's Commission said Monday the WTO proposal needed "a number of clarifications and a number of precisions", according to a spokeswoman.
The draft of the interim deal, which must be sealed by a meeting of the WTO's General Council starting here July 27, outlined areas the trade liberalisation talks -- launched by ministers in Doha, Qatar in 2001 -- should cover.
Negotiations collapsed in Cancun, Mexico last September when ministers from rich and poor countries failed to agree on the way ahead and opened up a rift over agricultural subsidies.
Chief negotiator Shotaro Oshima's compromise notably advocates talks on eliminating agricultural export subsidies, a key demand of the G-20, which also includes China, India and South Africa.
However, a group of net agricultural importing countries, whose farmers rely heavily on subsidies, on Tuesday criticised the proposal.
"We deeply regret the absolute absence of balance between agriculture and the other topics of the negotiation," said chief Swiss negotiator Luzius Wasescha, who is heading the G-10 group.
The G-10 also includes Japan, Israel, Mauritius, Norway, South Korea, and Taiwan.
Wasescha said the group felt they were being asked to make a greater sacrifice by lowering protection for their small domestic agricultural industries without obtaining equivalent concessions from trade partners on market access for other products or services.
"Our main concern is the imbalance of sacrifices," Wasescha said.
"This could be the end of Swiss agriculture," he added.
Japan's minister of agriculture, forestry and fisheries, Yoshiyuki Kamei, said in Tokyo Tueday that the flexible treatment advocated for "sensitive" farm products -- such as rice for Japan -- showed "a certain amount of progress".
But Kamei was concerned about "a lack of clarity" on some issues, while other countries had also raised qualms about the degree of detail in the text, diplomats said.
African countries have also warned that the lack of special treatment for cotton could be a stumbling block, diplomats said.
The WTO's chief on Tuesday reiterated his warnings against a renewed failure.
"We must be able to make it this time because otherwise the implication, not only for the round but for the organisation, is something I wouldn't like to think about," Supachai said.
Although the Doha round was originally meant to be completed by the end of 2004, global trade talks could run well into 2005 even if the 147 nations seal a long-delayed interim deal this month in Geneva.Agence France Presse:
