Associated Press | By NAOMI KOPPEL | September 15, 2003
Poor nations united and claimed a new voice in global trade talks, even as their refusal to be pressured by rich nations contributed to the collapse of a crucial World Trade Organization meeting.
Mexican Foreign Secretary Luis Ernesto Derbez called a halt Sunday to five days of negotiations among the WTO's 146 members, arguing that an agreement was impossible.
"I don't think we have to beat around the bush. Cancun has failed," EU Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy said. "This is not only a blow for the WTO, but a loss for all of us."
The talks will now return to diplomats at the WTO's Geneva headquarters, likely leaving them with a massive, years-long headache. There is virtually no chance countries will meet a self-imposed deadline of completing a binding treaty by the end of next year.
The WTO talks covered a wide range of issues, including reducing farm subsidies and tariffs. But the meeting collapsed because members couldn't agree whether to start a series of new negotiations on topics like rules for foreign investment and competition. The European Union wanted the issues, but several developing countries refused.
Some wondered if Derbez called off negotiations too quickly. British Trade Minister Patricia Hewitt said she had believed a deal was possible.
Derbez defended his decision, saying there was no consensus.
WTO Director-General Supachai Panitchpakdi said diplomats would meet in Geneva in December to decide how to proceed, adding: "We just cannot allow the round to be derailed."
Hong Kong was formally confirmed as the location of the next ministerial meeting, but it was unclear when that meeting would take place.
The Cancun meeting was marked by the emergence of a powerful grouping of developing countries, including China, India and Brazil. They stuck together despite differences in their own agendas to demand major concessions from richer nations, including the slashing of farm subsidies.
"Not only were we able to keep our unity, we were a permanent actor in the negotiations," Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim said.
Rafidah Aziz, Malaysia's minister for international trade and investment, said she was disappointed by rich nations' attitudes - not the collapse of the meeting.
"Unless they listen to countries, unless they listen to the problems we have in meeting some of the demands of the developed countries, this is what will happen," she said.
Advocacy groups, who spent much of the meeting working with developing nations to make sure their voices were heard, sang and danced in the hallways of the conference center as the talks collapsed. Many hugged one another.
"Our world is not for sale, my friend, just to keep you satisfied," they sang to the tune of the Beatles' "Can't Buy Me Love." "You say you'll bring us health and wealth, well we know that you just lied."
Richer nations blamed intransigence by a few delegations - both rich and poor - for the collapse of the meeting.
U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick said some countries had been unwilling from the start to negotiate or seek compromise.
"Too many people were spending too much time pontificating, not negotiating," he said.
Canadian Trade Minister Pierre Pettigrew agreed.
"I see an organization that is really living a culture clash," he said of the WTO. "Last night, I didn't feel I was in the WTO. I felt I was in some parliamentary institution where people were far more interested in rhetoric than substance."
South African Trade Minister Alec Erwin said his country and the other developing nations who banded together were simply defending their positions more astutely than they had in the past.
"There is absolutely no possibility that we merely pontificated or made political statements," he said. "The hallmark of this new group is its technical competence. I think this is a change in the quality and nature of negotiations."
Several rich nations called for internal WTO reforms, and Lamy said the organization "medieval."
International development aid group Oxfam said the failure of the meeting was "a missed opportunity" but hailed the rise of the developing nations.
"World trade negotiations will never be the same again," spokesman Phil Bloomer said. "Rich countries overplayed their hand and misjudged the strength of feeling and unity of the developing world who want to make trade fair."Associated Press:
