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Wto protesters clash with riot police { December 13 2005 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/wto/article/0,2763,1666308,00.htmlhttp://www.guardian.co.uk/wto/article/0,2763,1666308,00.html
11.45am
WTO protesters clash with riot police
Agencies
Tuesday December 13, 2005
South Korean farmers clashed with riot police in Hong Kong today at the start of a World Trade Organisation meeting likely to be dominated by rifts over agriculture.
The farmers, estimated by local media to number between 2,000 to 4,000, marched through the city to protest against the opening their domestic market to international competition - a move they claim would leave them unable to compete with cheap imports.
A few blocks from the conference site, a small number of farmers wielding bamboo sticks tried to break through a roadblock and clashed with riot police who responded with pepper spray.
At the WTO talks in Cancún, Mexico, two years ago, South Korean farmer Lee Kyung-hae died after stabbing himself in the heart.
The Hong Kong talks, which are scheduled to run until Sunday, were opened by Pascal Lamy, the WTO's director-general, with a call to delegates from the trade body's 149 members to be "bold, open-minded and prepared to take some risks".
The meeting was originally meant to wrap up the Doha round of trade talks - which began in Qatar in 2001 - and complete their aim of cutting trade barriers to allow developing nations better access to rich world economies.
Developing countries led by India and Brazil say industrialised nations have failed to provide such access and accuse the EU and US of not cutting the agricultural subsidies that effectively block their exports.
The US has proposed cutting domestic subsidies to farmers by 60% over the next five years and eliminate export subsidies by 2010.
Peter Mandelson, the EU trade commissioner, has said he will stick to the EU offer of an average 46% cut in farm tariffs unless he sees some movement from developing nations on offering to reduce their trade barriers on manufactured goods and services.
The Brazilian-led G20 group issued a statement today calling for a draft deal to cut rich nations' farm tariffs by April.
Kofi Annan, the UN secretary general, said in a speech read in his name to the delegates that the WTO must make progress in this week's talks or disappoint the millions who "yearn to lift themselves out of poverty".
He said the time had passed for "brinkmanship" in the four-year-old battle for a treaty to boost developing world economies through trade.
Anti-globalisation protesters inside the conference centre had earlier forced Mr Lamy to raise his voice as they chanted "Development yes, Doha no".
An estimated 70 South Korean farmers wearing orange lifejackets leapt into Hong Kong harbour to protest against the talks, but aside from the clashes between police and farmers there was none of the violence that accompanied the WTO meetings in Cancún and Seattle.
With the main topics of the trade talks stalled, rich nations' delegates are shifting the focus in Hong Kong to delivering trade support to the poorest developing countries as a sign that they too will benefit from more open markets.
A spokesman for Mr Mandelson said the EU had agreed to raise trade-related aid from €400m (£270m) to €1bn a year. Japan has announced a $10bn (£5.65bn) trade-related aid package and the US is expected to outline plans for increased assistance tomorrow.
The WTO members hope to reach a final deal by the end of 2006 that will close the Doha round, but delegates have given up plans to do so in Hong Kong.
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