Brussels, 28/11/2005 (Agence Europe) - The Director General of the WTO Pascal Lamy on Saturday in Geneva submitted to the delegates of the 148 members a draft ministerial declaration (Blue print) which will serve as food for the discussions at the conference in Hong Kong in December. The structure of the text comprises a general chapeau covering the various themes which are the subject of the negotiations and annexes in which the reports from the various negotiation committees (agriculture, non-agricultural products, services, antidumping rules, facilitation of trade and special and differentiated treatment) are contained. It reflects the progress made over the last 18 months of talks: whereas it should be an ambitious document establishing the numbered proposals and a precise timetable for lowering customs barriers, the trade in services facility and the elimination of agricultural subsidies, it in fact serves merely as a roadmap. “Advances on the agricultural parts are not balanced by those on industrial products or services. This lack of balance underlines the lost time we need to catch up in Hong Kong. I am afraid that, as it stands, the text will not bring progress in the discussions on trade reform”, commented Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson the same day. “Obviously, we would all have liked to see a more operational text at this stage, but this is where we are”, lamented Mr Lamy before the delegates at the WTO, expressing the hope that the meeting in December would enable the tempo of negotiations to be stepped up in order to reach an agreement at the start of 2006. According to a source at the WTO, since the ambitions for Hong Kong have been revised downwards “there has been no doubt that Pascal Lamy's objective for the ministerial meeting is twofold: avoiding direct confrontation in Hong Kong and using this meeting to create favourable conditions to bounce back in January 2006”. Mr Lamy still hopes that the negotiators in Geneva will agree on a more detailed text this week before it is approved by the WTO Executive General Council on Thursday and Friday. The delegates from the G90 developing countries will meet on Tuesday and Wednesday in Brussels (where they will meet Mr Mandelson) to agree on a joint position and amend a part of the text dedicated to differential treatment. Elsewhere, the members of the G4 + 1 (EU, USA, Brazil, India and Japan) will meet on Friday and Saturday to prepare the terms of the Hong Kong meeting so that it will have a precise agenda.