Commonwealth head urges EU farm subsidy cuts
A top Commonwealth official said today that the European Union must agree to greater cuts in farm subsidies and tariffs to make this week’s World Trade Organisation meeting a success.
Commonwealth Secretary-General Don McKinnon said he expected wealthy countries to concede more because poorer nations didn’t benefit much from previous trade negotiations.
“They were promised a lot from this round. So far, not a lot is coming,” McKinnon said as trade ministers from 52 Commonwealth countries met on the eve of the December 13-18 meeting to discuss strategy.
The current “Doha round” of WTO talks was launched in 2001 in Qatar to pay particular attention to developing nations. But progress has been slow, mainly because of differences over agricultural trade.
The developing countries want the US, EU and Japan to open their lucrative agricultural markets and eliminate the billions of dollars they give in subsidies to their farmers. The subsidies, they say, undercut the competitive advantage of producers in developing countries, where agriculture is a key source of livelihood for millions of people.
“Agriculture is the trigger of trust,” McKinnon said. ”If something substantial can be done in agriculture, you will see very clear movement in other areas.”
The US has offered a 60% cut in what it can currently offer to its farmers in subsidies and the European Union has agreed to lower the average tariff on agricultural imports by 46%.
“These have been good offers. What we got to see is that these offers are increased and made time bound,” McKinnon said.
The G-20 group of developing countries, led by India and Brazil, want the Europeans to improve their offer and say the US offer must translate into real cuts in subsidies, which they say is unlikely to happen with Washington’s latest proposal. They also insist the cuts must be carried out by 2010.
EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson, whose country Britain is a member of the Commonwealth grouping, said today that the EU won’t offer further concessions in Hong Kong – unless poor nations agree to lower their trade barriers on manufactured goods and services.
But McKinnon expected Mandelson to improve his offer at the negotiations.
“I can’t believe the EU trade Commissioner has come here with his hands tied,” he said. “You can’t negotiate if you have nothing to negotiate.”
Thirty-two of the Commonwealth’s 53 members are small states, formerly part of the British Empire that represents 30% of the world’s population.
