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WTO talks hit agriculture deadlock; farmers march
TOKYO (February 16 2003) : Ministers from more than 20 countries failed to bridge bitter divisions on key agricultural trade reform on Saturday, sending a WTO blueprint back to the drawing board as thousands of farmers held noisy protests.
Failure to reach an agreement on agriculture could threaten the latest round of global trade liberalisation negotiations launched in Doha, Qatar, in 2001, World Trade Organisation spokesman Keith Rockwell said.
"It's very clear that there's quite a difference between the members of our organisation on this issue," he said after the first working session.
"To miss the agricultural modalities deadline would, I think, cast quite a serious pall over the overall process."
After the opening talks on the divisive farm trade issue in Tokyo, sources told Reuters the WTO's chief agricultural mediator had agreed, in the face of stiff opposition, to redraft his blueprint for reform.
Stuart Harbinson's plan, released earlier this week, had proposed cutting the highest import tariffs on farm goods but not imposing ceilings on those duties.
"Everyone agreed it was a good catalyst for debate," the EU source said. But since members believed it could not form the basis for negotiations, Harbinson agreed to go back to the drawing board, the source said.
The plan had pleased neither of the two main camps in the talks -- the United States and other big exporters that want aggressive liberalisation, and the more protectionist Japan and EU, which want less drastic change.
"We are ready, as we demonstrated in recent proposals, to make major efforts but the currently proposed approach is flawed politically because it's unbalanced," another EU source said, describing the plan as favouring big exporters.
The Tokyo talks are meant to give ministers a chance to take stock of progress to date.
But with the clock ticking towards a March 31 deadline to agree on such controversial farm issues as targets for tariff cuts, ministers remain as divided as ever.
The ministers also tried to find common ground on proposals to allow developing countries to import cheap copies of patented medicine, including life-saving drugs.
Washington's demand that extra restrictions be placed on the kind of drugs covered by the plan has already resulted in a missed deadline on the issue.
Ministers held two-and-a-half hours of talks on this issue but did not reach an agreement, a Japanese official said.
"If by progress, you mean if we made an agreement, no there wasn't any," a Japanese official told reporters when asked if there had been any concrete progress towards a solution.
The official added, however, that there was a meeting of views on the need to find a solution as quickly as possible.
COLOURFUL PROTEST: Failure to meet the March 31 deadline would reduce the chances of the overall set of WTO negotiations -- on agriculture, services, manufactured goods and other sectors -- being wrapped up by the target date of January 2005.
Adding to the pressure on negotiators, thousands of farmers and a sprinkling of other anti-globalisation protesters gathered for a colourful rally in central Tokyo, driving tractors and waving banners calling for "fair" trade rules on agriculture.
"What we want to say to the WTO is that in Japan we have agriculture that needs to be protected," said Nobuo Ando, 54, who led a group of 150 farmers from Kamakura, near Tokyo.
"Harbinson's plan would lead to the collapse of Japanese agriculture and so we cannot accept it as it is."
The peaceful, but noisy, march by Japan's politically powerful farmers and several hundred from South Korea was a contrast to the last "mini-ministerial" WTO meeting in Australia in November, which was marked by heavy security and violent clashes between police and protesters.
At a rally in a central Tokyo park before the march, European farm leaders demanded special treatment for agriculture while their Japanese counterparts described the virtues of home-grown rice and "natto", a traditional soyabean dish.
SPLIT IN TWO: Japan imposes import duties of 490 percent on rice and encroachment by foreign brands is touted by domestic farmers as nothing less than an attack on Japanese culture.
Such tariffs would have been cut by 45 percent under Harbinson's plan, possibly enough for US and Chinese producers to get a foothold in Japan's huge market.
Big exporters such as the United States, Canada and Australia want even deeper tariff cuts and faster reductions in export subsidies than set out in Harbinson's plan.
"Debate is broadly split in two," another Japanese government official said, adding the US side was still demanding drastic cuts on both export subsidies and tariffs.
A third Japanese official quoted Agriculture Minister Tadamori Oshima as saying: "(Harbinson's) proposal is skewed towards the interest of some exporting countries, and overall we cannot accept it".
Courtesy Business Recorder
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Pakissan.com; Advisory Point
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