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.