G-22 seeks to cement unity after WTO battle of Cancun

G-22 seeks to cement unity after WTO battle of Cancun

Frederic Garlan, Agence France-Presse, Buenos Aires

The G22 bloc of WTO countries will meet here on Friday seeking to
maintain their unity and momentum after ganging up on the
developed countries and scuttling last month's world trade talks.

But having rallied around a campaign to roll back farm
subsidies that harm their exports, the club -- which includes
Argentina, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, the Philippines and
Thailand -- has already lost one member. And more cracks in the
group are appearing.

Foreign ministers and trade ministers from the bloc will
assemble for the first time since the World Trade Organization's
(WTO) doomed talks in Cancun, Mexico last month.

Nearly all the G-22 members depend on the agriculture products
that were at the heart of the WTO battle. And at the talks they
opposed the farm subsidies given out by wealthy nations while
pushing for greater market access for their own products.

Now they are trying to decide whether to make the G22, or
however many countries stay, into a formal structure. Many
believe the club has already carried out its mission with the
shock it delivered to the United States and Europe at the Cancun
talks.

Peru withdrew last week. Vice Foreign Trade Minister Alfredo
Ferrero said "the group dissolved itself once the Cancun summit
finished."

There has been press speculation that Colombia will also
withdraw while Costa Rica, Guatemala and Ecuador will not have
representatives in Buenos Aires even though they want to remain
members. Bolivia and Cuba were uncertain.

After the WTO debacle, Philippine Agriculture Secretary Lito
Lorenzo warned "there will be tremendous pressure to begin to
attract members of the G-22 to pull out of the grouping as they
settle their concerns with the developed nations."

And Brazil's Foreign Minister Celso Amorim, who played a
leading role in creating G22, is already talking of a G20-plus
for the future.

The Buenos Aires meeting is expected to concentrate on the new
attempts to push forward the WTO's free trade agenda. Another
round of talks is to be held in Geneva in December.

It will also seek a common position on the "peace clause" in
the WTO rules which forbids one WTO member from attacking another
over its agriculture subsidies.

The regulation was established in 1994 and expires at the end
of this year. Argentina and most other South American nations say
they do not want it extended.

The 21 remaining countries in G22 are: Argentina, Brazil,
Bolivia, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Egypt,
Ecuador, Guatemala, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, Pakistan,
Paraguay, the Philippines, South Africa, Thailand and Venezuela.