The Japan Times
DAVOS, Switzerland (Kyodo) Thai Deputy Prime Minister Supachai Panitchpakdi said Saturday that Japan should make concessions in the agricultural sector in order to successfully launch a new round of trade talks under the World Trade Organization.
In an interview with Kyodo News in Davos, Switzerland, Supachai, who will serve as WTO director general from 2002, also called for compromise from the European Union and the United States to convince developing countries to agree to a new round of discussions.
"We need to have more understanding and flexible treatment of the multifunctionality" of agriculture that Japan wants to maintain, said Supachai, who is also Thai commerce minister.
Japan, along with countries such as South Korea and Switzerland, has argued that farming serves a "multifunctional" purpose, and that subsidies for farmers are not protectionism but rather a step toward maintaining rural communities.
Supachai's comments reflect complaints by developing countries about the current WTO arrangement, which they say primarily protects the interests of developed countries.
The WTO's agricultural sector is an area that developing nations have criticized most heavily.
Japan's demands should "avoid anything that will restrict trade or distort trade," Supachai said.
The deputy prime minister said that the EU should be flexible in its agricultural policy, which allows huge farm subsidies, and that the U.S. should compromise on its demands for anti-dumping rules and labor rights.
"You have to trade off some of the things," Supachai said. "If (the more developed countries) don't see to this and say that considerations back at home will not allow this, there will be no new round."
Supachai said he does "not have much concern" about moves to create regional free-trade agreements, saying that it is possible for the FTAs and the multilateral agreement under the WTO to coexist without competing with each other.
The new round of trade talks had been slated to begin in early 2000, but was delayed after the collapse of the WTO's 1999 ministerial meeting in Seattle due to differences over key trade issues and developing countries' anger over the trade body's decision-making process.
Supachai also said he expects U.S. influence in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum to gradually decrease, adding that Japan should assume a larger role as China's position is strengthened by its inclusion in the WTO.
"I don't think it will be true forever that APEC will keep the U.S. in Asia. It may be in terms of spirit, but not in terms of substance," Supachai said.
"Gradually, Japan will have to play a stronger political role. China, definitely, without waiting for Japan, will play a stronger role," he said.
Supachai is in the Swiss Alpine ski resort to attend the annual World Economic Forum meeting. He will take over the director general post from Mike Moore in September 2002.
The Japan Times: Jan. 29, 2001 (C) All rights reserved:
