Associated Press | Sept. 13, 2003
CANCUN, Mexico (AP) -- World Trade Organization members have made progress on the thorny issue of agricultural reform and are preparing a proposal aimed at closing the differences between rich and poor nations, officials said Saturday.
Group spokesman Keith Rockwell said late Friday that WTO negotiators were inching toward consensus and had made ``in some cases significant movement.''
Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Peter Allgeier said Saturday there was a ``better understanding'' between nations but ``there certainly haven't been any deals struck.''
Mexican Economy Minister Fernando Canales said there were still very ``diverse positions,'' but he was confident an agreement could be reached.
The biggest rift has been between rich and poor nations, with more than 20 developing countries banding together and pushing the United States and Europe to make deeper cuts in their farm subsidy programs.
The so-called Group of 21 had showed few signs of backing down, and some have worried the talks could stall.
Yet Rockwell said negotiators made progress in closed-door meetings, including on the sensitive topic of agriculture. He did not provide details.
Delegates also appeared to be deadlocked over whether to add four new issues into the current round of treaty talks, with Canadian Trade Minister Pierre Pettigrew describing the sides as ``polarized.''
``It is difficult to find a way forward,'' Rockwell quoted Pettigrew as saying.
The topics include the contentious area of setting international rules on investment by multinational companies. The others are competition policy, improving transparency in government contracts and simplifying procedures for cross-border transportation.
Negotiators were working on a new proposal expected to be distributed to delegates Saturday afternoon. That text would then be a basis for future talks.
Publicly, there appeared to be little common ground.
Indian Commerce Minister Arun Jaitley argued Friday that price supports to farmers in rich nations were ``literally pushing (poor farmers) into destitution.'' He urged members of the so-called Group of 21 to hold together.
On Saturday, Bolivia's Foreign Minister, Carlos Saavedra, ``there was pressure to try to destroy the Group'' of 21.
U.S. officials have said they want poor nations to agree to open their markets in return for subsidy cuts. But Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Peter Allgeier denied Friday the United States was pressuring poor nations.
``All I did this morning was to urge all countries, including the countries within the G-21, to come forward and negotiate in the same spirit that I am describing now, one of give and take,'' he said.
African countries have complained about the rich nation's cotton subsidies, particularly those in the United States. Rockwell said there was an increasing belief that a cotton agreement should be part of a future accord.
Activists have spent the meeting clashing with police and trying to get past security and protest inside the meeting site. Protesters filled shopping carts with sticks and other debris Saturday as they gathered for a major march Saturday, threatening to storm past police barricades and head to the meeting's site.
Police, presidential guards and other security agents massed around the conference center hosting the meeting, stopping some pedestrians from approaching the site and searching bags for anti-WTO pamphlets. Bomb-sniffing dogs were led along sidewalks and Navy officers in inflatable boats patrolled the nearby lagoon.
WTO members agreed at a meeting two years ago in Doha, Qatar, to come up with a global trade treaty by the end of next year. However, negotiators have missed several important deadlines, and failure to make progress in Cancun could jeopardize that goal.Associated Press:
