WTO Ministerial Meeting Presents Draft Declaration in Cancun

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Sunday, September 14, 2003

WTO Ministerial Meeting Presents Draft Declaration in Cancun

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The World Trade Organization (WTO) presented Saturday a draft of the final declaration of the 5th Ministerial Meeting of Cancun, on the elimination of subsidies on agricultural exports with respect to sensitive products for developing countries.

In the draft, which was elaborated by several work groups, WTO also put forth that the developed nations reduce their internal subventions for the agricultural producers.

The 146 WTO members plan to present on Sunday morning, at the end of the Cancun conference, the final resolution on the compliance of the Doha Development Agenda that was established in November, 2001 aiming at putting into effect new world rules on fair trade by 2005.

The agricultural issue became fundamental to the establishment of the new guidelines for trade between rich and poor countries, one of the essential issues in the negotiations of the ministerial meeting that will conclude on Sunday following five days of intense discussions at the Caribbean resort of Cancun, in southeastern Mexico.

"The (WTO) members compromise to eliminate the export subventions for products of particular interest for developing countries," said the draft, without specifying the list of products nor the date for the elimination of subsidies.

"Every developed country realize reductions in the assistance that causes distortion in trade" and these cuts will be of "significance," according to the draft, but it does not mention either percentages, amounts or terms.

The elimination of subsidies on agricultural exports and the reduction of internal supports to production have brought about long debates and differences between rich and poor countries.

The Institute for Agricultural and Trade Policy said through a communique that the project of the ministerial text keeps in effect "dumping" in agriculture. "This will make it more difficult for developing countries" to challenge export dumping in WTO.

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