After China, the tough talking starts
The euphoria that greeted the approval of China as a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO) died down today as ministers in Doha, Qatar, got down to the serious business of agreeing on trade talks acceptable to 142 countries.
‘‘There are concerns among members about the failure of the conference. It is by no means certain that they will bridge the gaps,’’ said WTO spokesman Keith Rockwell.
Ministers have until Tuesday evening to agree on a formal declaration setting out the areas in which they will hold negotiations. All are conscious that failure to agree - for a second time - would paralyse the body that sets rules on international trade.
Trade ministers from almost all the WTO’s 142 members unanimously approved China’s application for membership yesterday, bringing the once-isolated communist country - and its 1.2 billion consumers - firmly into the global marketplace.
Today should see the approval of Taiwan which, according to a 1992 informal agreement, cannot join before China.
Membership had been China’s goal for 15 years. Chinese Trade Minister Shi Guangsheng said his country supported the WTO’s aim to launch a new round of trade liberalisation negotiations as long as the ‘‘interests and reasonable requests of developing countries’’ were given ‘‘full consideration’’.
In Geneva yesterday, protesters who claim the WTO puts business ahead of people and hurts developing countries hurled Molotov cocktails, bottles and firecrackers at riot police who erected barricades and barbed wire fences in a protective shield around the WTO headquarters.
In Doha, a small group of protesters chanted outside a US news conference yesterday, accusing rich countries of bullying poorer nations into agreeing to things that were not in their interests.
A key issue on which rich and poor differ is protecting patents on medicines.
Brazil and India are leading a group of countries pushing for a declaration that nothing in WTO agreements stops them from taking action to protect public health.
The US, Switzerland, Japan and Canada are resisting, arguing that such broad wording could allow countries to override patents on virtually any drug.
Sharp differences over agriculture between the EU, the US and big exporting countries known as the Cairns Group are also a major problem.
The 15-nation EU has long demanded exemptions be given for payments made to its farmers that it says are to promote rural development, food safety and environmental protection.
Cairns Group countries, including Australia, Canada and Brazil, say such measures are unfair subsidies.
