More calls for resumption of WTO rounds

Davos, Switzerland, Agencies

United Nations chief Kofi Annan made an impassioned plea on Friday for the poor to get a fairer deal from trade as top officials tried to inject life into stalled talks on freeing up world commerce.

The UN Secretary-General urged business leaders at the World Economic Forum's annual meeting to use their influence to persuade the United States and the European Union it was in everyone's interest that they give ground in areas such as farm subsidies.

Negotiations at the Geneva-based World Trade Organization (WTO) have been floundering since a ministerial summit in Mexico collapsed last September, in large part over the differences between rich and poor on reforming world farm trade.

"More than anything else, we need a poor-friendly deal on agriculture. No single issue more gravely imperils the multilateral trading system, from which you benefit so much," Annan said in a speech at the forum.

"Agricultural subsidies skew market forces. They destroy the environment. And they block poor-country exports from world markets...For all our sakes, and for the credibility of the system itself, they must be eliminated," he added.

The EU and the U.S., which account for much of the some $350 billion a year rich states spend on their farmers, have offered cuts, but they are not deep enough to satisfy developing countries or even other rich but efficient farm goods exporters such as Australia.

The head of the World Trade Organization, Supachai Panitchpakdi, said Friday there was "more than enough time" to complete deadlocked global trade talks by their end-of-year deadline.

"I guess if political will is there, if people do as they say they are going to do and give instructions to the Geneva people, we would have more than enough time to finish," Supachai said as he entered a meeting to help relaunch the talks.

Since the breakdown at a meeting in Cancun, Mexico, many countries have warned that they will miss the December 31, 2004 deadline for their effort to reduce world trade barriers.

"We know what lies ahead of us, we know the sense of urgency, we have the key issues discussed in the last few months so there is no excuse not to move ahead," Supachai said.

Some 20 trade ministers met Friday to help revive global trade talks. Despite the absence of ministers from WTO heavyweights the U.S.and European Union, ministers from countries such as Brazil, India, Canada and Switzerland said the meeting was a timely opportunity to discuss efforts to relaunch negotiations on the subsidies and other tough topics.

There is a growing sense of urgency among the WTO's 146 member states to make up for lost time following the collapse of the Cancun meeting.

At that meeting, bickering over cross-border investment and competition added to a more fundamental dispute over farm subsidies in richer countries and the high tariffs on agricultural exports from poorer nations.

Everyone entering the mini-ministerial of sorts on the fringe of the five-day Davos gathering appeared to have a collective objective: to return to the negotiating table.

"Our major hope is to ensure that the multilateral process goes ahead and we have a united front in terms of developing and furthering the Doha round," said Canada's newly-appointed trade minister, James Peterson.

Despite fears that a US presidential election this year would overshadow the process, a letter sent this month from US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick to his WTO counterparts signaling Washington's commitment to the crucial talks, fueled ministers' renewed sense of confidence.

Zoellick proposed the complete elimination of subsidies on agriculture exports by a set date -- one of the sticking points in Mexico.