G-20 CALLS ON RICH COUNTRIES TO RESPOND CONSTRUCTIVELY TO AG PROPOSALS

Ministers and senior trade officials from the developing countries that make up the G-20 bloc in WTO negotiations ended a 9-10 September summit in Bhurban, Pakistan with a joint statement calling on rich countries to engage in negotiations aimed at reforming their agricultural policies. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss strategy in the run-up to the WTO's December Ministerial Conference in Hong Kong.

The 25-point 'Bhurban Declaration' reaffirmed G-20 members' commitment to their common negotiating positions in the ongoing Doha Round talks on trade liberalisation in agricultural products. These views, expressed in WTO submissions and in a declaration following a similar ministerial gathering in New Delhi in March 2005, call for the elimination of export subsidies within five years; a "substantial and effective reduction" in trade-distorting farm subsidies; a tariff reduction formula that involves equal (as opposed to progressively higher) percentage cuts on items within each band, with developing countries making lower reductions; the binding of all tariffs with different ceilings for developed and developing countries; and the provision of adequate special and differential treatment (S&D) for developing countries.

G-20 to developed countries: respond to our proposals

In July, the G-20 countries proposed a compromise formula on market access at an informal mini-ministerial meeting of WTO trade ministers in Dalian, China (see BRIDGES Weekly, 13 July 2005). Although delegations present at that meeting agreed at the time to use the G-20 proposal as a starting point for subsequent talks, nothing came of the intensive Geneva-based negotiations in the weeks that followed, as Members started to express disagreement with different aspects of the approach (see BRIDGES Weekly, 3 August 2005).

The Bhurban Declaration called on major subsidisers to respond constructively to their proposals, which they said constituted "a genuine middle ground." They warned the latter against trying to extract disproportionate concessions in other areas of the Doha Round talks in return for eliminating trade-distortions in farm products.

Officials at the meeting paid particular attention to improving co-operation between the G-20 and other developing country groups at the WTO, including the G-33, the least developed countries (LDC), and the African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) countries. They declared that LDCs should be exempt from commitments to cut tariffs, and said that preference erosion could be addressed by expanding market access in products of export interest to beneficiaries, as well as through the provision of financial and technical assistance.

The G-20 formally reiterated its support for the G-33 grouping's goals of allowing developing countries to designate 'special products' for reduced liberalisation to help address issues of food security, rural development, and livelihood concerns, accompanied by the creation of a 'special safeguard mechanism' to afford them some protection against import surges. It announced that it would support the G-33's efforts to develop a list of indicators for the identification of such products.

The declaration also called for an end to unjustifiable non-tariff barriers and tariff escalation -- higher tariffs on processed foods that discourage developing countries from adding value to their farm products -- and "the fullest liberalisation" of trade in both tropical products and crops that can be grown in the place of illegal narcotics.

Hong Kong Commerce, Industry and Technology Secretary John Tsang, who will chair the Ministerial Conference in December, was present in Bhurban in order to improve his understanding of G-20 concerns.

Civil society groups urge India, Brazil to quit FIPs

In related news, several civil society organisations held a meeting on the sidelines of the G-20 gathering. Representatives from the groups shared their concerns with some of the ministers present in Bhurban. Notably, the non-governmental organisations and farmers' groups urged India and Brazil to quit the influential "five interested parties" (FIPs) grouping which they form along with Australia, the EU, and the US, arguing that talks in "exclusive processes such as green rooms, mini-ministerial meetings and FIPs do not yield pro-development elements." The joint statement was signed by NGOs including Oxfam Great Britain-Pakistan, ActionAid-Pakistan, and the Islamabad-based Sustainable Development Policy Institute.

Amorim: ball in the developed countries' court

At the end of the meeting, Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim said that "the ball is in the developed countries' court." This echoes comments made by some Geneva-based trade negotiators, who said that the US and the EU must work out a deal on cutting farm subsidies in order for talks to move ahead.

The US and the EU, for their part, have been attempting to find common ground in the Doha Round talks. EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson and EU Farm Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel met their US counterparts in Washington on 13 September. That same day while speaking at the National Press Club, Mandelson said that the US and the EU should jointly agree to the rapid elimination of export subsidies. The EU has been arguing that it reformed its subsidy programme in 2003 and that the US should decrease its subsidies rather than increasing them as it has in recent years. US politicians counter that EU support and tariffs remain higher than those in the US.

WTO agriculture talks started up again on 13 September (see related story, this issue).

The Bhurban Declaration is available online at http://www.commerce.gov.pk/news/read.asp?newsID=80.

ICTSD reporting; "G-20," PRESS TRUST OF INDIA, 9 September 2005; "Pak groups call for transparency in WTO talks," FINANCIAL EXPRESS, 10 September 2005; "G-20 asks West to eliminate subsidies," ECONOMIC TIMES, 10 September 2005; " US, EU seek common ground on WTO talks," REUTERS, 13 September 2005; "Bhurban Decelaration signed: G-20 ministers come up with 3-tier strategy," DAILY TIMES, 12 September 2005; "Mandelson: US, EU Should Jointly Cut Ag Export Subsidies," DOW JONES, 13 September 2005.