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.