WTO talks turn to needs of developing nations<\/p>\n
Agence France-Presse, Geneva<\/p>\n
Trading nations were turning their attention to the needs of poor
\ncountries in WTO talks on Wednesday, a day after acknowledging
\nthey face a watered-down ministerial conference next month.<\/p>\n
Brazil and India were expected to hammer home the message that
\nrich fellow World Trade Organization (WTO) members must keep the
\ninterests of developing countries at the core of negotiations to
\nliberalize global commerce.<\/p>\n
Members of the 148-nation WTO are meeting this week as they
\nstruggle to keep four-year-old negotiations on track as their
\nDecember 13-18 Hong Kong conference looms with crucial issues
\nstill unresolved.<\/p>\n
The conference is meant to put together a framework deal to
\nlower global trade barriers, a crucial stage in the WTO's Doha
\nRound negotiations, which were launched in 2001 with the aim of
\nboosting living standards in developing countries.<\/p>\n
\"The real test of this round is whether those with US$1 a day
\nmove up, or whether those with $5,000 a day move up,\" Indian
\nCommerce Minister Kamal Nath said on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Nath, other senior developing country trade officials and
\nadvocacy groups regularly charge that this main plank of the Doha
\nRound is going forgotten, although their rich nation counterparts
\nreject this.<\/p>\n
Developing countries, which accuse rich nations of using
\nsubsidies and tariffs to skew the global farm trade against them,
\nhave been suspicious of cuts offered by the United States and the
\nEuropean Union, saying they lack real bite.<\/p>\n
Brazil and India, who steer the powerful G-20 developing
\ncountry lobby, have resisted stepping up talks on trade in
\nindustrial products and services, such as banking, until the farm
\ncontroversy is settled.<\/p>\n
Nath and Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim held talks in
\nLondon on Monday with counterparts from the EU, U.S. and Japan.
\nAfterwards, they said they had narrowed their differences but
\nthat gaps remained.<\/p>\n
Despite plans to start drafting a text for Hong Kong by mid-
\nNovember, negotiators are far from putting anything on paper.<\/p>\n
As a result, WTO members meeting on Tuesday in Geneva said
\nthey would need to shift the target for Hong Kong, doing less
\nthan originally planned there and then possibly holding another
\nconference around March.<\/p>\n
Members originally intended to complete the round in 2004 but
\nlater set a 2006 target after repeatedly failing to overcome
\ndisputes.<\/p>\n
They are anxious to avoid a replay of their failed conferences
\nin Seattle in 1999 and Cancun in 2003, which broke down amid
\nspats between rich and poor.<\/p>",
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