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New wto deal on farm trade Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.reuters.com/financeNewsArticle.jhtml?type=businessNews&storyID=5834737http://www.reuters.com/financeNewsArticle.jhtml?type=businessNews&storyID=5834737
WTO Seen on Verge of New Trade Deal
Sat Jul 31, 2004 07:47 AM ET
By Richard Waddington and Patrick Lannin
GENEVA (Reuters) - The World Trade Organization (WTO) Saturday was on the verge of an agreement to get stalled global trade talks back on track after key members struck a hard-won deal on the pivotal issue of agriculture.
Following an all-night negotiating marathon, key countries agreed on a package of proposals for future reform of global farm trade, including an elimination of export subsidies, caps in rich nations' support for their farmers, and tariff cuts.
"Agriculture is not a real stumbling block anymore, the feeling is that it's done even if there are some loose ends," said Gregor Kreuzhuber, a spokesman for EU Agriculture Commissioner Franz Fischler.
Agreement on the sensitive issue of agriculture would open the way for freer trade in other goods as well -- the next item on the WTO's agenda -- which could help boost global growth and potentially lift millions out of poverty.
Fischler himself said the EU could "broadly accept" the farm deal. "I think we can live with the package as it is," he told reporters at the WTO's headquarters.
A delegate from Mauritius, which has taken a leading part in the WTO talks on behalf of African nations, said it could also live with the proposals worked out overnight.
Any deal would have to signed off by the full 147 member body of the WTO.
Success in Geneva would restore momentum to the Doha Round of talks, which have languished for months but hold out the promise of a multi-billion dollar boost to the world economy.
Failure would mean a virtual rerun of the collapse of world trade talks in Cancun, Mexico last year, with the risk that further trade liberalization would be delayed for years.
CONTRAST WITH CANCUN
The atmosphere at WTO headquarters in Geneva, where the 147-member body has been rushing to meet an end of July deadline, was in contrast to the bitter mood in Cancun.
Diplomats from North and South all said they were committed to finding compromises.
The latest blueprint put forward by WTO head Supachai Panitchpakdi and the chairman of the WTO's executive General Council, Shotaro Oshima of Japan, offered cuts in the subsidies nations such as the European Union lavish on their farmers and included a pledge to end export subsidies, a major demand by developing countries.
It also called for moves to liberalize global trade in manufactured goods and services, although the WTO's poorest nations would not have to contribute.
But the blueprint reopened differences over agriculture among Brazil, the United States and the European Union, despite an announced deal among the three Thursday that had appeared to open the door to a WTO-wide accord.
The United States and African nations said they had resolved a fight over U.S. cotton subsidies, which the African say drive their farmers out of business.
© Reuters 2004. All Rights Reserved.
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