RP, Thais call on WTO to break down barriers

RP, Thais call on WTO to break down barriers

Teresa Cerojano, Associated Press, Manila

The Philippines and Thailand on Monday urged the World Trade Organization to help push for developing countries to gain more access for farm exports to developed economies.

"We are for downgrading subsidies by foreign governments to their own farmers and breaking down and dissolving barriers to products of the developing countries - quotas, health and sanitary regulations, technical obstacles and other clever tricks," Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo said.

"We aim to fight for our farmers and fisherfolk to the best we can, working in concert with the rest of the developing world."

She issued the statement on the eve of the Philippine delegation's departure for this week's WTO meeting in Mexico of ministers from 146 member governments.

In a speech to an economic conference in Brunei last week, Arroyo said that for developing countries like the Philippines, a major test of the WTO negotiations' success is how they fulfill the promise to open global markets for products where developing countries have an edge.

Visiting Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra told a business forum that while he doesn't hold much hope for concrete results, he would like to see more "balanced" trade between developing and developed countries.

"Developing countries are very united and trying to push for the opening of the agriculture market," he added.

He said if developed economies open their markets more, they will help developing countries prosper and become future markets for other goods.

Cutting tariffs and subsidies on farm goods is expected to be among the most sensitive issues at the WTO meeting.

Big agricultural exporters like Australia and Brazil insist farm products are the same as any other internationally traded good.

According to the timetable they set during the last ministerial conference, negotiators were supposed to have come up with a detailed blueprint for liberalizing agricultural trade by March 31.

But five months past that deadline, negotiators have already abandoned hope of producing the blueprint now and are hoping only for a "framework" that sets out the general direction of future negotiations.