Banana split at trade talks
28/07/2008 - 07:06:41African and Caribbean countries are standing in the way of a deal that would end the European Union’s long-running “banana war” with Latin American nations at the World Trade Organisation.
The deal would benefit banana-exporting nations such as Ecuador as well as multi-national growers like Chiquita Brands International and Fresh Del Monte Produce.
Brazil’s foreign minister Celso Amorim said last night an agreement had been reached, but his comments clashed with those of African and Caribbean nations that currently benefited from preferential access to the European Union.
The EU has repeatedly been found to be in breach of global trade rules for favouring banana growers from mostly British and French ex-colonies.
The EU said it would be prepared to cut import charges on Latin American bananas to around €110 a tonne, down from €175, by 2016, according to the text of the offer which was seen by reporters.
The offer was made at top-level talks in Geneva, Switzerland, aimed at sealing a new global free trade pact. It improves slightly on a similar proposal the EU made earlier this month. It also drops an earlier demand that Latin American nations and the US end all existing WTO complaints over the preferential treatment former European colonies receive when exporting bananas to the EU.
The US has backed Latin American countries on the issue because US-based companies such as Chiquita grow much of their banana crop in South and Central America.
African, Caribbean and Pacific growers, which currently pay lower tariffs when exporting to the EU, want financial compensation before agreeing to the banana deal, which would form part of the seven-years global trade talks known as the Doha round.
Cameroon’s industry minister Luc Mbarga said his country would put forward an alternate proposal today, while a Jamaican delegate said the Caribbean nation wants a longer grace period before tariffs for its Latin American rivals are cut.
The bitter struggle over seemingly minor issues such as banana tariffs reflects the difficulty the Doha round has faced since it was launched in Qatar’s capital in 2001. The round, which would force virtually all the WTO’s 153 members to further open domestic markets to foreign competition, has to be signed off unanimously and as a complete package.
Ministers from major trade powers gave reporters a largely optimistic assessment of their closed-doors talks last night.
Indian trade minister Kamal Nath said his meeting with the US, European Union, China, Brazil, Japan and others had been “good and constructive” though several issues remain to be solved. His views were echoed by EU agriculture chief Mariann Fischer Boll.
But US Trade Representative Susan Schwab said a “delicately balanced” package agreed on Friday was threatening to unravel because of demands from “a few emerging markets”.
She declined to identify which countries are asking for last-minute changes.
“A lot of folks are going to have to put in a lot more time, unfortunately,” she said.
The meeting, originally scheduled to end at the weekend, will now continue until at least Tuesday, officials said.
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