Groups urges WTO farm compromise

Groups urges WTO farm compromise

Agence France-Presse, Geneva

Brazil, India and China on Wednesday led a group of developing countries in unveiling new joint proposals on how to reform global farm trade as negotiators race to find a compromise weeks from a crucial meeting of the World Trade Organization (WTO).

"The intention of the proposal is to be as inclusive as possible, incorporating concerns and interests of all participants," said a joint statement by the 16 countries supporting the proposal.

The plan, which comes a week after the European Union and United States submitted their own joint proposal, covers the so- called three pillars of agriculture that have been the hardest to resolve: market access, domestic support and export subsidies.

"As expressed by developing countries, the need to ensure balanced levels of commitments in all three pillars ranked high in our priorities," Brazil's WTO ambassador Luiz Felipe de Seixas Correa said.

"You will note that much is requested from developed countries, since it is from them that we expect more," he told delegates at WTO headquarters here.

The paper came amid a flurry of proposals circulating here on Wednesday on the highly controversial issue of agriculture as diplomats battle to close gaps before a ministerial conference in Cancun, Mexico, from Sept. 10-14.

Negotiators failed to meet an end-of-March deadline for agreeing guidelines for the agriculture talks, which are part of the overall "Doha round" of talks on a new global trade treaty.

The 16 countries call for a substantial reduction of all subsidies to farmers in what amoung to more far-reaching demands than those contained in the EU-U.S. proposal.

On tariff cuts, the paper proposes strong differences in formulating commitments between developing and developed countries.

It also calls for the elimination of all export subsidies.

The EU and United States had not spelled out that all export subsidies should be abolished, but did call for their elimination on products crucial to developing economies, with reductions elsewhere.

Chief EU negotiator Peter Carl told reporters on Wednesday that he did not believe the developing countries' paper was a useful contribution.

"There's nothing new in this," he said.

But international aid group Oxfam welcomed it.

"Unlike the EU-U.S. offering, this is a serious proposal which provides a good basis for discussions at Cancun," said Oxfam's representative in Geneva, Celine Charveriat, in a statement.

"It is high time that the European and American farm subsidy superpowers got serious about reforming their destructive agricultural policies."

Brussels has come under pressure over its aid to farmers from both developing countries and big farming exporters in the 18- strong Cairns Group, of which Brazil is a member.

Papers were also circulating on Wednesday from Japan, on the one hand, and a six-strong group led by Switzerland.

Both also stressed the importance of taking into consideration the "non-trade concerns" of agriculture.

These are issues such as food security, environmental protection, rural development and employment.

On Tuesday, five other developing countries also produced a joint text.

All the papers, including the EU-U.S. submission, set out to offer frameworks for further negotiation, without going into precise figures.