Brussels, 27/06/2007 (Agence Europe) - Should one see this as a sign of fragility in the broad platform of developing countries for which the two G-20 emergent countries - Brazil and India - act as spokespersons? Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Hong Kong, Mexico, Peru, Singapore and Thailand proposed a new compromise on Monday concerning modalities for trade liberalisation for industrial products (NAMA), which distances itself from the Brazilian and Indian positions. In their proposal, a copy of which has been obtained by EUROPE, these eight countries call for greater concessions for the developed countries via a tariff reduction coefficient for NAMA “less than 10” for these countries, and offer greater opening of their industrial markets to foreign competition with a coefficient applicable to themselves between the “upper teens and the low twenties”, in other words between 15-25. Under the banner of the negotiating group called “NAMA-11”, South Africa, Argentina, Bolivia, Egypt, Indonesia, Namibia, the Philippines and Tunisia, headed by Brazil and India, had suggested on the eve of the Potsdam meeting (EUROPE 9451-9453) a coefficient on NAMA applicable to themselves under the “Swiss formula” of 35. According to some sources, in Potsdam, Brazil and India tabled a coefficient of 30 for developing countries and at most showed some uncertainty about agreeing to come down to a coefficient of about 25 with the Union and the US accepting G-20 conditions on agricultural matters. A figure that is far from the demands made by the developed countries that hoped to limit the maximum amount of customs duties on NAMA to 10 for themselves and to 15 for the developing countries. “The losses and missed gains associated with a failure or freezing of the Doha Development Agenda far outweigh the costs of a less-than-perfect agreement”, the eight countries cited above say in their proposal. “The time has come for all WTO members to show the flexibility needed to conclude the negotiations by early 2008 at the latest”, they add. Invited by EUROPE to commend on this new proposal, the spokesman for Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson welcomed the fact that a “first step forward has been made in the right direction”. (eh)