G-33 ministers reaffirm commitment to fight at WTO
Zakki P. Hakim, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Ministers from the "Group of 33" developing countries met here on Saturday to reaffirm their commitment to fight for special and differential treatment for staple farm products at the World Trade Organization.
Meeting on the sidelines of the Asian-African Summit, they also agreed to arrange a more formal meeting ahead of the WTO ministerial meeting in December in Hong Kong.
The group is faced with the urgent task of producing criteria for the protection of farm products under the concept of a "Special Product and Special Safeguard Mechanism (SP-SSM)", Indonesian Minister of Trade Mari E. Pangestu said after the meeting.
"This meeting is a concrete, immediate follow-up to what the heads of state have said, that the developing countries need to work together to fight for the interests of the developing world in international forums," Mari told the press here.
Mari and Minister of Agriculture Anton Apriyantono cohosted the G-33 ministers at a breakfast meeting, which was also attended by envoys representing G-33 countries from South and Central America, and the Caribbean.
"The ministers agreed to meet in a more formal setting ahead of the Sixth WTO Ministerial Meeting in Hong Kong in December," Mari said.
She continued that this meeting was expected to take place in Jakarta in June to consolidate the G-33 position and strategy ahead of the December WTO talks.
Anton added that during the meeting, the ministers expressed the need for each country to push its officials to provide the necessary data for the group to formulate the SP-SSM concept immediately.
Indonesia leads the group fighting for SP-SSM in the WTO to protect staple foodstuffs, such as rice, sugar, soybeans and corn, from such things as excessive cuts in customs duties in the WTO and an influx of cheap imports.
The G-33 goal is to ensure that the issues of food security, livelihood security and rural development become an integral part of the current WTO trade negotiations and outcome, as called for by the Doha Development agenda.
The group also expressed concern with the slow pace of progress in the current negotiations at the WTO, especially on farm issues.
Farm talks at the WTO broke down last week over the question of how to convert into a percentage terms the customs tariffs currently expressed in nominal values such as dollars per ton, or non-ad valorem equivalent (non-AVE) tariffs, as they are known. Most rich countries impose the majority of their tariffs in non- AVE fashion.
Talks to cutting farm trade subsidies were unable to continue as before producing a formula for the cuts, an agreement on a conversion technique would first have to be agreed upon.
According to Mari, an agreement was crucial for further discussions on a formula for lowering tariffs around the world.
"This is a gateway issue in the farm talks. The negotiators in Geneva still have a week before the deadline to come to an agreement. In the meantime, no progress means no progress (in other farm issues as well)," she said.
However, she said that should the talks fail to conclude this month, the issue would be brought to a mini-ministerial meeting in Paris in early May. Some 30 ministers from the rich and poor world, including Indonesia, are expected to attend the meeting.