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WTO targets early ministerial meeting: sources
2008-12-03
GENEVA (AFP) - The head of the World Trade Organization has asked member states to prepare for a meeting in mid-December to try to conclude the long-stalled Doha global free-trade pact, sources said on Wednesday. In a fax to all 153 member states of the trade bloc, WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy said that if a ministerial meeting was called, it would begin sometime between December 13-15. A diplomatic source told AFP that Lamy also plans to call "a meeting of a more restricted group of seven WTO members two days before the ministerial meeting on December 11 and 12." Another diplomatic source confirmed the information but added that the plan could be scuppered by the United States, India and China, which have disagreements on key issues. Talks on a global trade accord under the WTO Doha Round have dragged on since 2001, beset by deep differences between developed and developing countries over trade in industrial and agricultural goods. The last attempt at a deal in July broke down owing to disputes between the US and India over a mechanism to protect poor farmers from sharp increases in imports. There have been calls for another attempt to reach a final accord by the end of this year so as to give the world economy a boost and offset the impact of the global financial crisis. Restarting global trade talks was one of the pledges world leaders gave at a G20 meeting in Washington last month. Any deal reached in December would be subject to approval from the new US administration under president-elect Barack Obama, however. The sources also said developing giants such as China were unwilling to sign up to the initiative which would fail without their participation. US Trade Representative Susan Schwab is due to meet top Chinese officials at high-level talks in Beijing this week and the sources say this could prove decisive for December's meeting. In the fax sent to WTO members, Lamy said "we (have) made progress in closing gaps." But he noted that there remained disagreements, with some members asking for concessions in agriculture negotiations and others asking for the same in industrial products talks. "As we all know, we still have a number of outstanding issues but the reality is the relevance of what we are doing to the financial crisis," he said in the fax, adding that there was "clear urgency" to concluding the negotiations. The Special Safeguard Mechanism provision for protective tariffs, which tripped up talks in July, remains a problem. It affords developing countries a safety net by allowing them to implement a punitive tariff on certain products in the event that imports surge and threaten domestic producers. In addition, the chief negotiator for industrial products said on Tuesday that a proposal for specific industry sectors to be submitted to sharper tariff cuts than the overall general level of reductions was also proving "difficult." "I wouldn't qualify it as a deal-breaker but it's a serious, difficult question that has to be put on track," said Luzius Wasescha, who is also Switzerland's ambassador to the WTO. The sources said developing giants such as China are unwilling to sign up to the initiative which would fail without their participation. US Trade Representative Susan Schwab is due to meet top Chinese officials at high-level talks in Beijing this week and the sources say this could prove decisive for December's meeting. Chief negotiators on industrial products and agriculture talks are also expected this week to issue new negotiation drafts, which would be used as the backbone of any discussions this month.
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