G90 states hold strategy session over WTO trade talks
G90 states hold strategy session over WTO trade talks
Jean-Marc Poche, Agence France-Presse, Port Louis, Mauritius
Trade ministers from a group of 90 developing nations (G90) and their counterparts from the U.S. and EU appeared to narrow their differences at a meeting in Mauritius on Tuesday seen as key to the viability of the current stalled development round of World Trade Organization (WTO) negotiations.
After a series of meetings with different blocs of developing countries, EU Trade Commissioner Pacal Lamy and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick left the Indian Ocean island on a note of optimism that crucial compromise was possible.
Any hopes of reviving the development, or Doha, round of WTO negotiations rest on coming up with a framework for their agenda before the end of the month.
"The sentiment that prevails among the G90 is that it is better if the train leaves the station in July," Lamy told a news conference.
"It would be even better if everybody was aboard the train," he added.
Rich countries and development states are at loggerheads over the massive trade-distorting subsidies in the West and over the insistence on including so-called Singapore issues in this round of negotiations.
"The European Union and the United States are moving towards the G90, while this group is stabilizing its position on certain issues such as trade facilitation (one of the Singapore issues), cotton, and others," he added.
In a separate press conference, Zoellick also said he had noted "points of convergence," but warned "there is much more work to be done."
Some 300 delegates, including 40 ministers, have been on the Indian Ocean island for the talks.
"I hope that we make all progress necessary for us to conclude the Doha round (of WTO negotiations) whose main agenda will be development in the poorest countries," Mauritian Prime Minister Paul Berenger told reporters late on Monday.
"If the ministerial (WTO) conference in Cancun, Mexico, last year was a failure, it was because developed countries didn't give enough attention to development," he added.
WTO Director General Supachai Panitchpakdi urged the G90 to be flexible and to take a "realistic" approach to the deadlocked global trade talks.
"We need all members to contribute by being realistic and to exercise restraint," Supachai said in a speech released by the Geneva-based WTO.
"Some groups of members have already shown important signs of flexibility," he added.
"At this late stage, it is of paramount importance that we avoid creating any unnecessary divisions or place additional obstacles in the path of the negotiations," Supachai said.
The G90 is committed to a difficult task: forging a unified front to press the EU and U.S. governments to scrap their billion-dollar agricultural subsidies.
The dispute over the subsidies, which distort prices and skew competition, was among the prime causes for the collapse of the WTO summit last September in Cancun, Mexico.
West African countries have estimated that they lose one billion dollars a year on cotton exports because of Western subsidies.
Mauritian trade representative Assab Buglah told AFP the G90 wanted to "send a strong sign to other WTO members that it will contribute positively to restarting negotiations and it will show it can be flexible".
Ahead of the G90 event, Zoellick and Lamy met at the weekend with WTO trade representatives from Australia, Brazil and India in Paris in a bid to build consensus on agricultural issues.
The European Commission is also set to issue proposals on July 14 to reform its sugar trade, where massive subsidies have severely distorted the world market.