Hong Kong, 14/12/2005 (Agence Europe) - The developing countries made themselves clearly heard on Tuesday, the second day of the sixth WTO Conference, which will bring the trade ministers of the 149 member countries together until Thursday. Cotton and bananas, two highly sensitive issues for several developing countries (DCs) and least-developed countries (LDCs), were the two subjects for discussion at the ministerial plenary of Tuesday evening. The negotiations from the principal trade powers and negotiating groups (G10, G20, G33, G90 and Cairns Group) will meet later in the evening in the Green Room, a daily informal meeting closing the working days of the Conference, which is chaired by the Director-General of the WTO, Pascal Lamy, and aiming to reach a consensus on key issues, allowing the talks to move forward.
On Tuesday morning, the countries of the African Union, the ACP countries and the LDCs, which make up the group of DCs of the G90, reiterated their demands, in a common position presented by the ACP spokesperson, the Mauritian minister Madun Dulloo. "We would like to see substantial progress on special and differentiated treatment and on the issue of small economies. We also hope to see a coherent and effective package of aid measures for trade", Mr Dulloo explained to the press conference, whilst stressing the need to consider development as an issue which affects all of the G90 countries, not just the LDCs. |The message of the G90 is, therefore, clear: it will not agree to any "procedure which aims to divide it". On agriculture, the G90 is calling for a reduction of internal support creating more distortions to export, a linear formula of tariff reduction and, above all, the removal of all forms of export subsidies "by a credible date". Lastly, to compensate for the phasing-out of tariff preferences, the ACP/G90 are demanding a lesser reduction of their customs duties (as a "free" Round is in the pipeline for the LDCs on tariff matters). On NAMA, the G90 would like an "adequate political area to be provided" to guarantee the viability of fledgeling industries, and for the list of products identified as being sensitive, in terms of the removal of preferences, to be taken into account. "It will be difficult for us to be party to any agreement if these issues are not effectively addressed", warned Mr Dulloo. As for the development package and its "aid to trade" component, "this must be an integrated procedure, not an empty shell" to "ease the conscience" of the rich countries, added Mr Dulloo.
The Ambassador of Benin to the WTO, Samuel Amehou, whose country is one of the four largest producers of cotton in Africa, was singing from the same hymn sheet a little later during the press conference. "If we do not get satisfaction on our requests, we will not be able to get behind an agreement", threatened Mr Amehou. Benin, Burkina Faso, Mali, Senegal and Chad, which have suffered as a result of the subsidies paid by the United States and the Union to their cotton-producers, and which cost their producers over 400 million dollars this year, are calling for all forms of aid and subsidies to cotton exports to be removed as of 1 January 2006. The Ambassador of Benin blamed Washington in particular, as it paid out nearly 4 billion dollars in subsidies to its cotton-producers last year. As for the proposal supported by the Union, within the context of the development package, to launch an initiative engaging the rich countries to open up their market without customs duties or cotton quotas to the main African producers (EUROPE 9071), "it is a good one, but with the subsidies, if we have nothing to sell at competitive prices, it will not help us", regretted Mr Amehou. The spokesperson of the African Union, the Egyptian Minister Rachid Mohamed Rachid had also, a little earlier, underlined the need to come out with a WTO ministerial declaration on cotton by the end of the conference, whilst criticising the fact that the American Trade Representative, Rob Portman, has still not put any dates forward to remove American subsidies to cotton.
At a joint press conference on behalf of the emerging countries of the G20, the Indian Minister for trade, Kamal Nath, and the chief of Brazilian diplomacy, Celso Amorim, like the G90, very much stressed the need to "set a credible date, as soon as possible, for the removal of all forms of export subsidies practised by the rich countries", which would give greater coherence to the adoption of a development package. Mr Amorim also welcomed the declarations made earlier that day by Rob Portman, calling on the WTO partners "not to leave Hong Kong without a date for a further ministerial meeting early in 2006 allowing us to set a definitive date to remove export subsidies". The United States proposed 2010, but the Union, which hopes to obtain a guarantee on strict parallels between its subsidies, export credits and American food aid, as well as Australian, Canadian and New Zealand State farms, is still reluctant to agree to this day. "This would be a signal that we are close to a deal", the Brazilian Minister observed. "This declaration must be more than a declaration of good intentions", said Mr Nath, who went on to accuse his European counterpart, Peter Mandelson, of coming to Hong Kong "with his pockets empty" of any new, improved agricultural offer, both on export subsidies (on the date to be set) and market access. "If the Union will move on market access, the United States will move on internal support. And then we will move. But both must also move on export subsidies", added Mr Amorim. The Brazilian and Indian ministers also indicated that they were prepared to commit to market access with neither quotas nor tariffs for LDC exports, as part of the development package. This embryonic commitment on the part of the large emerging countries was also confirmed on Tuesday evening by the WTO spokesperson, Keith Rockwell, who emphasised the progress made on Monday evening during the first Green Room given over to the development package. At the end of the morning, however, Mr Mandelson criticised the "resistance on the part of certain countries" (the United States, Japan and the emerging countries), which are not opposed to negotiating such a package ("important for the credibility of the rich countries", he pointed out), but which are not offering sufficient "clarity" on their intentions, when it comes to the details.
The Trade Commissioner also reiterated once more, during his speech before the ministerial assembly, that the global offer put forward by the Union on 28 October had "not been followed by any equivalent offer from its partners". "We can tighten up the draft ministerial declaration, and bring in new constructive elements of compromise. But this will require genuine political goodwill", Mr Mandelson told the press, calling once more on the agricultural exporting partners to "put more material than just agriculture on the table". Describing it as "highly unlikely" that a "balanced global agreement" will be reached in Hong Kong, the French trade Minister, Christine Lagarde, said that the conference "would be a success" if it led to a development package and intermediate measures on cotton. As for an improved Community offer on agriculture, Ms Lagarde warned that there was "no question of making concessions" on this issue, and that there was "no flexibility possible" on the offer put forward by Mr Mandelson on 28 October.