PARIS, Sept 23: Four-way talks between the European Union, the United States, India and Brazil failed to kickstart stalled WTO trade negotiations on Friday, but EU trade commissioner Peter Mandelson said the countries had inched further towards a final agreement.
“Some consensus built some progress made but still we have a great deal to do,” Mandelson told a press conference after four hours of talks with US trade secretary Rob Portman, Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim and Indian Trade Minister Kamal Nath.
The meeting of the leading rich and emerging-economy members of the World Trade Organization was aimed at settling differences, notably on farm subsidies that have hampered attempts to reach an international agreement on freeing up trade in agricultural products and services.
“I am more optimistic as a result of the talks that we will be able to bridge our differences,” said Portman.
The so-called Doha Round of WTO talks was launched in Qatar in 2001, but the negotiations have been fractious and have exposed splits between rich and poor countries and between the EU and the US.
The 148 nations in the WTO are up against the clock: a crucial summit in Hong Kong in December is meant to produce at least the framework of an international accord on cutting customs duties, subsidies and other barriers to trade.
“Each party has to do further homework to flesh out proposals so as to build consensus,” Mandelson said.
On Thursday, bilateral talks here between the EU and US had broken up without an agreement. Neither side had been prepared to make the first compromise gesture, with the EU required to lower tariffs for imported farm products and the US under pressure to reform its farm subsidies.
In a conciliatory gesture, the EU and US said on Friday that they had accepted a proposal by the Group of 20 emerging nations, including Brazil, China and India, as a basis for their discussions on reducing customs tariffs for agricultural products.
That proposal, initially presented in July at a meeting of 30 trade ministers in China, calls for a formula that would provide less severe tariff reductions on developing countries than on developed nations.
The “Group of Four”, as they are called by WTO chief Pascal Lamy, also announced their intention to form a focus group aimed at re-energising talks on the liberalisation of trade in services.
“We will not achieve anything in Hong Kong unless we are able to demonstrate a breakthrough in manufacture and services negotiations,” said Mandelson.
Brazil’s Amorim reminded his counterparts that developing nations would only grant rich countries access to their domestic service markets if concessions were made on agricultural products.—AFP
