Agence France Presse | Dec. 7, 2003
GENEVA (AFP) - Attempts to get countries back to the negotiating table to relaunch WTO trade talks by a December 15 deadline are in trouble, and diplomats doubt much progress will be made until next year at the earliest.
"Due to a lack of time, I do not believe we will reach an accord," predicted Carlo Trojan, the European Union's ambassador to the World Trade Organisation.
"I just hope we will be able to offer a positive indication that we are heading in the right direction to discuss the framework (for negotiations) in the very near future," he told AFP in a recent interview.
Unable to agree on core issues such as agriculture at a conference in Mexico in September, ministers of the WTO's 146 member states told their ambassadors to find a compromise by December 15 at the latest to restart the so-called Doha Development Agenda.
But little progress has been made since then and member states now doubt the current round of negotiations will be concluded by January 1, 2005, as originally planned.
On Thursday, the WTO's top negotiator charged with breathing life into the discussions, admitted it would be "very difficult" to compile a compromise text to move the talks forward by December 15.
"We will need more time to negotiate," said Carlos Perez del Castillo, chairman of the general council -- the WTO's executive organ.
"I haven't felt in many cases a negotiating mood to move to common ground at this stage," he said.
As always, the WTO's 146 member states are unable to agree on the thorny subject of farm subsidies in richer states and the high tariffs on agriculture imports from developing nations.
The issue will probably be raised at a meeting in Brazil on December 12 between EU Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy and the group of 20 (G20) developing countries, which was created in Cancun to combat farm subsidies.
The 15-nation EU believes it has shown a sufficient will to comply with demands to reform its agricultural policy.
"It is now up to the other side to show they are willing to be flexible," said Trojan. "We have not seen a lot of movement from the G20."
But the countries of the south disagree.
"The EU is not even able to put a date on the elimination of export subsidies," said Alfredo Chiaradia, ambassador to the WTO for Argentina, a member of the G20.
"With some effort, the EU could convince most G20 countries that 10 years is acceptable, but we are not going to accept 30 years," he said.
In a more optimistic tone, Australia's ambassador to the WTO, David Spencer, said a decision by the United States to comply with a WTO ruling and scrap a tariff on certain steel imports -- which prevented an all-out trade war -- would generate a better mood for constructive talks.
"We have made some modest progress" since Cancun, he said, adding that: "I am still confident that we can make substantial progress next year.
At the same time, in a sign of the troubles being experienced, an informal meeting of ambassadors that should have taken place on December 5 was postponed until Tuesday.
And the official gathering on December 15 will simply rubber stamp whatever is decided at this meeting, a WTO source said.
On Tuesday, member states are expected to agree to re-activate eight negotiating groups, which were formed to discuss the main themes in the Doha round but have been suspended since the ministerial meeting collapsed in Mexico.
This relaunch, however, will only occur once the heads of each group are replaced next month.Agence France Presse:
