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Posted on Fri, Aug. 08, 2003 WTO Official Says Some Nations Held Back RAJESH MAHAPATRA Associated Press
NEW DELHI, India - Lack of flexibility by developed nations is holding back progress on agreements that would help developing countries benefit from a liberal multilateral trade regime, an official from the World Trade Organization said Friday.
Two years ago, trade ministers from 146 WTO member nations agreed on a set of deadlines to resolve key trade issues which developing countries said were vital to protecting their interests.
But all the deadlines have been missed, said Shisir Priyadarshi, a counselor at the WTO secretariat in Geneva.
A March 2003 deadline was set to complete negotiations on reducing farm subsidies and agricultural tariffs, but as late as last month, the United States and the European Union were only discussing initial offers, he said.
Similarly, he said a December deadline for an agreement that would allow poor countries to overlook patent rights and import generic drugs for treating diseases like HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis has been missed because of opposition from the United States.
These deadlines, along with others, were set after developing countries led by India and Brazil opposed a U.S. proposal at the last ministerial meeting in Doha, Qatar, to launch a new round of trade negotiations.
Washington says a new round of negotiations is necessary to improve market access around the world, but India and Brazil say developed nations should first honor the promises they made during the Uruguay round of negotiations, which led to the establishment of the WTO in 1995.
At Doha, member nations agreed to take up the concerns raised by developing countries and resolve them ahead of the fifth WTO meeting of trade ministers, scheduled to be held next month in Cancun, Mexico.
Priyadarshi said negotiations since the Doha meeting have not made headway because "the developed countries are not ready to accept any change in the existing text (of the WTO agreement)."
"Linkages between progress in different areas and differences in priorities of developing countries have also contributed to the delay," he said.
For instance, the United States wants significant cuts in import duties on agricultural products, but developing countries say they would first like to see the European Union and Japan scale back the huge subsidies they offer to their farmers.
The United States says it supports the developing countries' demand for subsidy reduction, but, in turn, wants them to open their services sector to foreign competition.
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