Brussels, 18/11/2009 (Agence Europe) - Rumours about an imminent world deal on banana imports that were circulating in October 2009 (see EUROPE 9985 and 9996) have been confirmed. Latin-American banana growers (Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru and Venezuela) are reported to have agreed to the European Commission's suggestion of gradually reducing the EU's import tax on banana imports from these countries from now until 2017 from €176 a tonne at present to €114 a tonne. Latin American countries are reported to still be negotiating the details of how the reduction would be phased in. Latin American sources at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) were quoted by AFP as saying on Wednesday 18 November 2009 that they did not yet know exactly what the import duty would be in the first three years. Latin American banana growers want compensation for missed profits in two years when an almost finalised deal was postponed at the WTO Summit in Geneva in July 2008, blocked by the EU as a result of the collapse of Doha talks for an over-arching global trade deal. The banana deal that is nearing completion foresees an initial cut in import duty from €148 a tonne, followed each year after that by further cuts for seven consecutive years (to €143, €136, €132, €127, €122, €117 and finally €114 a tonne). In return, Latin American banana exporting countries have reportedly dropped their appeals against the EU at the WTO. The Commission is reported to be pledging to aid countries in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific (ACP) that grow bananas, providing them with €190 million in additional development aid to help them cope with the reduction of banana import quotas for the big Latin American growers. On Tuesday, EU sources quoted by AFP said a deal was within reach' that would end a 16-year conflict at the WTO and might be sealed at the end of this week or the start of next week. This would pave the way for a deal between Latin American and ACP banana producers on tropical products in general and thereby eliminate in one fell swoop a raft of obstacles to a the Doha global trade deal, ending the banana war that broke out at GATT in 1993 (before the WTO was set up) when the EU decided to give preferential customs tariff treatment to ACP countries that were former colonies of several EU Member States. (E.H. trans fl)