G-33 ministers reaffirm commitment to fight at WTO

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.