BY: ROBERT MACPHERSON Agence France Presse LUXEMBOURG, The European Union spelled out Monday its objectives for the WTO ministerial conference that opens November 9 in Doha, saying it wants to see "flexibility" from all sides and a better break for the developing world. In its final instructions to EU Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy, EU foreign ministers said the launch of a new World Trade Organization (WTO) round would have a "positive political and economic impact" on the entire world. "These negotiations will call for flexibility on the part of all the participants," the Council of Ministers said in a statement that stressed "the development dimension" at Doha. "In all areas covered by the round, it (the EU) hopes that all possible means will be sought to meet the developing countries' specific requirements," it said. Monday's statement came after the 142-member WTO moved closer over the weekend to finalizing a draft agenda which significantly narrows areas of disagreement. Lamy called the latest version, scripted under the leadership of Hong Kong's WTO ambassador Stuart Harbinson, was "like its predecessor a good working basis that will need to be improved here and there." "On the three subjects that are politically big for us -- the environment, agriculture and the question of relations between the International Labor Organization (ILO) and the WTO -- it's clear that the text doesn't conform to what we'd hope for," he said. "There's still work to be done." The last WTO ministerial conference, held two years ago in Seattle against the backdrop of huge street protests against globalization, collapsed in part over a reluctance by rich Western nations to open their markets wider for farm products, textiles and other products from developing countries. Europe is meanwhile under pressure again from the United States and Cairns Group of 18 non-subsidising agricultural exporting countries, which includes Canada, to eliminate its complex system of farm subsidies. In a nod to the vast number of special interest groups demanding a say on trade policy, the EU foreign ministers stressed the importance of keeping up "a close dialogue with civil society," especially trade unions and business groups. Speaking to reporters in Luxembourg, Lamy praised what he portrayed as a solid block of support among the 15 EU member states, which Monday reaffirmed the broad mandate which they had given him prior to Seattle. "The EU delegation which will be going to Doha next week will depart with a clear position, unanimously adopted," Lamy said. "It will be approaching the discussions with a constructive spirit and considerable determination." But the commissioner acknowledged that individual EU member states had "technical" concerns. Lamy specifically mentioned his native France, where lobbyists for the textile and garment industries last week warned against any "unilateral concession" to Asian and South American rivals.:
