[Mb-civic] World trade talks reach agreement BBC

[Michael Butler]

 World trade talks reach agreement
 World Trade Organization members have agreed a revised draft deal that aims
to revive stalled talks on freeing up trade between rich and poor nations.

 Key WTO members accepted proposals to cut the subsidies wealthy countries
give their farmers for exports.

 The deal should reduce barriers to international trade and so, it is hoped,
lift millions out of poverty. Brazil's Foreign Minister, Celso Amorim, said
the WTO agreement was good for trade and good for social justice.

 "This is the beginning of the end for [farm] subsidies. Export subsidies
will be eliminated first," he said.

 The agreement, agreed late on Saturday in Geneva, puts the so-called Doha
round of trade talks back on track, after similar talks in Cancun last
September ended in deadlock.

 The Geneva talks were extended for an extra 24 hours after the 147 WTO
members failed to reach an agreement by the end of Friday, the original
deadline.

 Hammered out 

 "Today's news is that the Doha round is back on track," EU trade
commissioner Pascal Lamy said.


 
 "In Cancun I said the round was in intensive care. Today it's not only out
of the hospital but well and running," he added.

 US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick said the deal was "a crucial step
for world trade". But even with the latest agreement, the details will still
have to be hammered out, and that could take at least another couple of
years, says the BBC's John Moylan in Geneva.

 A small group of African countries claimed a major breakthrough on their
key agricultural product of cotton, our correspondent says.

 After hours of talks, key WTO nations, including the US, the EU, Brazil and
Japan, agreed to eliminate export subsidies at a date to be set, to limit
other subsidies and lower tariff barriers.

 In return, wealthier nations, among them the EU's members, are insisting on
better access to markets in developing nations.

 France, the biggest beneficiary of EU agricultural subsidies, has been
highly critical of moves to cut support for farmers.

 But EU Agricultural Commissioner Franz Fischler said the EU could "broadly
accept" the deal.

 Japan and Switzerland were also concerned about the removal of subsidies
for some of their agricultural producers.

 KEY POINTS
 Farm export subsidies eliminated - but timeframe has yet to be set
 Stricter rules on state aid for rural development
 Developing countries to cut import tariffs for industrial goods
 Customs procedures to be simplified
 "The liberalization process will put additional economic pressure on our
farmers," said Swiss President and Economics Minister Joseph Deiss.

 But he welcomed the plan nonetheless: "This will be a key step for the
opening of the world economy and this will be of benefit for all countries."

 Healing the rift 

 The Geneva agreement revives the long-stalled talks on a trade
liberalisation treaty that began in Doha in 2001 but which collapsed amid a
bitter rift between developed and developing nations in Cancun last year.

 WTO Director General Supachai Panitchpakdi said the breakthrough was a
historic moment for the organisation.

 According to the World Bank, a successful final deal could add $520bn
(£280bn; 420bn euros) to the world economy by 2015, if rich and developing
countries cut their tariffs.

 Most of the benefit would, the World Bank believes, go to poorer countries.

 Analysts say it is vital that any new deal be agreed before 2007, when what
is known as fast-track legislation expires in the US.

 Without fast-track, which limits the power of the US Congress to alter
trade deals negotiated by Washington, there is little prospect that the US
will adopt a new pact.

 EU Commissioner Lamy said that he now believed the Doha round could be
completed by the end of 2005.

 Story from BBC NEWS:
 http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/business/3937745.stm

 Published: 2004/08/01 06:50:23 GMT

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