 |
|
"We
are tipping the balance in the WTO back in favor of the developing
countries," said Lamy. (Reuters)
|
HONG
KONG, December 18, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) –
Trade ministers of the World Trade Organization (WTO)'s 149 members
agreed on Sunday, December 18, to end farm export subsidies by 2013
and open rich-country markets a bit wider to the world's poorest
nations, saving long-running global trade talks from collapse.
"We
are tipping the balance in the WTO back in favor of the developing
countries," said WTO Director General Pascal Lamy after the
agreement was finally approved, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).
"You
have put the round back on track, you have given it a sense of
urgency," Lamy said, referring to the Doha Round of trade
negotiations launched in Qatar in 2001.
WTO
delegates approved a document providing for European Union
agricultural export subsidies to be scrapped by 2013, a key stumbling
block which the United States and developing nations had wanted
removed in 2010.
The
agreement came after six round-the-clock days of fractious talks
between ministers at a Hong Kong harbor-side convention centre and
anti-globalization protests outside that erupted into vicious street
battles.
It
is intended to guide ministers in further negotiations, with the goal
of approving a final trade liberalization deal and completing the
current round of negotiations by the end of 2006.
Lamy
said another ministerial meeting would be held in April.
Welcomed
"In
a week of disappointments, this is no small prize," said European
Union Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson.
He
said the agreement was "acceptable" after other countries
had agreed to the EU compromise on the date for eliminating the
subsidies.
"It
is not enough to make this meeting a true success. But it is enough to
save it from failure."
The
Hong Kong agreement on export subsidies did not impact the EU's
much-criticized Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) program of domestic
subsidies, which accounts for 40 percent of the trading bloc's
spending.
The
United States also welcomed the text, saying it had come to Hong Kong
to build a solid platform to move forward global trade liberalization
and had achieved the goal.
Betrayal
 |
|
Anti-globalization
protesters march in Hong Kong. (Reuters)
|
Big-hitters
among developing nations, led by Brazil and India, gave their nod to
the draft but voiced their frustration over the EU's refusal to agree
on 2010 as the cut-off date for export support.
"I
think the EU owes one to the developing countries. We showed a real
will to negotiate and we didn't feel it was the same from the other
side," Argentine Trade Minister Alfredo Chiaradia told reporters.
Anti-poverty
campaigners condemned the new agreement as a betrayal of the poor.
"This
is not a deal, it's a fraud," the head of ActionAid's trade
justice campaign Aftab Alam Khan told AFP.
The
anti-poverty group estimated the agreement would result in EU
subsidies being cut by one billion euros (1.2 billion US dollars),
compared to the 55 billion euros spent on the CAP.
Oxfam's
trade campaign chief Phil Bloomer said rich countries had conceded
minimal access to their agricultural markets while opening up the
sensitive industrial and services sectors of developing nations.
"This
is a profoundly disappointing text and a betrayal of development
promises".
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