Developing Countries At Odds Over Preferences In Farm Trade Talks

A dispute among developing countries over preferential trade access to rich economies erupted during talks at the World Trade Organization on liberalizing agriculture, a trade source said Friday (02/11), Agence France Presse reports.

"There were strongly-worded exchanges between some developing countries being given preferences and some of those that are excluded," an official said after meetings of farm trade negotiators this week at WTO headquarters in Geneva. African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries, mainly former colonies, notably benefit from low tariff preferential trading terms with the European Union on a range of goods including bananas.

Stuttering talks among the 148 WTO member states on extending liberalization, which were launched in Doha, Qatar in 2001, are meant to include an overall reduction in trade barriers by rich countries. But some ACP nations fear they might face harsher trading conditions if they lose their preferences. Jamaica intervened on behalf of Caribbean countries to call for some preferences to be maintained and for flexibility to allow "small vulnerable economies" to adapt, the source said. Several Latin American countries insisted that preferences undermine a key WTO principle of non-discrimination and said they should not "hold up liberalization," the source added. Brazil and the United States, backed by some other developing countries said the erosion of preferences was inevitable but argued for a transitional mechanism that would help vulnerable countries adjust.

Kyodo (Japan, 02/13) further notes that senior officials of WTO members agreed Saturday that WTO countries need strong political backing to promote progress in the Doha Round of global market-opening talks at their unofficial ministerial gathering in Kenya in early March. At the day's meeting of senior officials from about 30 WTO member economies in Geneva, they confirmed that they require a strong political message for a successful outcome at a ministerial meeting in Hong Kong to be held at the end of this year, the officials said. On nonagricultural products and services, whose liberalization talks are lagging behind, chairmen of such trade talks expressed the view that WTO members will need the support of their Cabinet ministers, they said.

In a separate piece, Agence France Presse notes EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson said Friday that the United States and Europe should find ways to overcome their trade rows to provide leadership to broader global trade talks. Mandelson said the two economic powers should be working on advancing the Doha Round of talks to liberalize trade under the World Trade Organization, poverty in Africa and efforts to underpin peace progress in the Middle East. "Without a doubt the biggest challenge in trade policy sphere is to bring to successful fruition the Doha Development Agenda," he said. "The international trading system benefits us all." To make progress ahead of a December ministerial meeting, Mandelson said, "we need to shift gears" to reach agreement on agriculture and other topics. "Europe and America still need to give that leadership to international trade talks," he said. "But we need to be subtle. The days when Europe and America could fix the deal are long gone.