WTO calls for 'real' olitical commitment
By Tonny Chan (China Daily)
Updated: 2005-04-25 06:10

World Trade Organization (WTO) Director General Supachai Panitchpakdi yesterday called for "real" political commitment from member economies to settle differences or risk upsetting ministerial talks to be held in Hong Kong in December.

Supachai made the remarks in a speech at the Boao Forum for Asia a week after farm subsidies talks stalled in Geneva over the calculation of wealthy countries' import duties.

Ministerial officials from 148 WTO member economies will meet in Hong Kong in December to try and thrash out an agreement blueprint for deliberation by their respective leaders at a WTO summit in 2006.

Supachai warned failure to resolve differences before the Hong Kong summit could result in a delay of a year or years, subject to the domestic legislative process of member economies, especially that of the United States.

The director general, who will step down from the post in September, said much had to be done in five major areas if pledges to a global free trade environment as set out in the Doha development agenda were to be made workable.

The five key areas are agriculture, non-agricultural market access, services, rules as well as development. He said all were equally important even though public attention has been focused on agriculture.

"I am still optimistic but less than I was when I was speaking because we are moving closer to the Hong Kong meeting. I think we have lots and lots of work to do," he said.

"I think what we are saying today is real political commitment," Supachai said. "We need political commitment to drive the process forward. It is not only negotiators doing the technical exercise in Geneva. We need political decisions on how far we can go in certain areas."

He said it was necessary for political leaders to decide how far the cuts should go and what measures they would take in eliminating export subsidies, adding that their full commitment and input was needed in the months ahead.

Supachai said that although the ministerial meeting is set for December, July was a looming deadline as many Europeans take summer holidays during that period.

"So there is a real sense of urgency. I have to finish preparations for Hong Kong by July. We need a good July outcome with issues resolved in all five areas," he said.

Progress on the agriculture issue alone, he added, would not be enough to ensure the success of the Hong Kong talks.

On April 19, the latest round of technical negotiations in Geneva was brought to a standstill after negotiators failed to resolve differences on an essentially technical issue - how to convert import tariffs that many rich countries now express only in dollars per ton into percentages of value.

Chief mediator of the farm talks Tim Grosser cautioned that he would be unable to put forward a serious paper in July if members did not move on the issue.

The agricultural talks were aimed at slashing subsidies provided to farmers by rich countries like those of the European Union (EU). Developing countries and exporters criticized the subsidies for preventing them from competing effectively in world markets.

Supachai said even though public attention was fixed on the agricultural issue, equal focus was warranted in the other areas of services, goods, rules and development.

"You can only conclude the round successfully when you have everyone on-board with a balanced agenda. Everyone will have to have some interests seen to. So we need advances not only in agriculture. And I can assure you that we will make real progress in agriculture," he said.

The EU's former trade commissioner Pascal Lamy, a frontrunner for the director-general post Supachai is to vacate, believed member economies were zeroing in on the question of agricultural export subsidies.

Lamy said market access was a more difficult area because developing countries did not share the same view on the issue.

He said that while all developing countries agreed export subsidies should be zero and domestic support should be reduced, not all agreed that market access should be increased because of varying domestic situations.

Supachai said members had to remember the Cancun experience and not ignore small countries.

(China Daily 04/25/2005 page2)

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