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Trade ministers in Mexico work for new WTO round

With time running short, senior trade officials from some key rich and developing countries gathered on Friday to try to resolve sharp disagreements that threaten to block the launch of new world trade talks for the second time since 1999.

At the invitation of the Mexican government, officials from the United States, the European Union, Japan, India, Egypt, Jamaica, Tanzania, Brazil, Argentina and Canada are trying to make enough progress to increase the chances a new round can be launched when the World Trade Organisation holds its next ministerial meeting from Nov 9 to 13 in Doha, Qatar.

WTO director general Mike Moore on Friday urged ministers gathered for the Mexican talks to show flexibility on tough 'deal-breaker' issues, including agriculture, the environment and developing country implementation concerns.

"Let's focus on the deal-breakers and see how much can be done," Moore told Reuters on the sidelines of the meeting, which begins in earnest on Saturday.

Moore noted that over the next 10 weeks, about 100 trade ministers would meet with one another in various forums, such as a meeting in Uruguay next week, to see if they can resolve remaining issues.

"While countries have begun to narrow differences, there is still sizeable disagreement," Moore said.

He also said trade ministers could only modify their positions if they were given instructions from their capitals.

Moore warned previously that the failure to launch a new round of trade talks could further damage the faltering world economy.

Mexican President Vicente Fox will host the ministers at a dinner on Friday.

The WTO's last effort to launch world trade talks collapsed amid street protests and tear gas in Seattle in December 1999, when countries failed to agree on a negotiating agenda.

RIFTS REMAIN

Almost two years later, many of the same rifts remain, with India and other developing nations complaining they have not received as much access to farm and textile markets in the United States and Europe as they expected from the 1994 Uruguay Round trade pact.

Many developing countries also want more time to implement commitments they made in the Uruguay Round and are put off by the EU's desire for talks on antitrust policy and foreign investment rules, fearing they will get in over their heads.

Pressure in the US Congress for talks on labour and the environment has also raised concerns among developing countries that rules in those areas would be used by rich nations to keep out their products.

Japan, Brazil and many other countries want talks on anti-dumping and other 'trade remedy' measures that enjoy wide support among US lawmakers, despite foreign concerns they are tilted unfairly in favour of US producers.

US officials have downplayed the chance of reaching agreement in Mexico City on any of the issues, but hope trade ministers will return to their capitals with a better understanding of what must be done to ensure success in Doha.

Ongoing discussions at WTO headquarters in Geneva have made some progress on developing-country concerns over implementation. But some of the issues are best handled through a new round of talks, US officials argue.

The 17 trade ministers gathered in Mexico represent only a fraction of the WTO's 142 members. The meeting could still help launch a new round given the participation of key players like the United States, the EU, Japan, India and Brazil, analysts said.

"The fact that this meeting is taking place and that a diverse group of countries are trying to work together informally to build a consensus for starting a round is positive," said Jeffrey Schott, a trade expert at the Washington-based Institute for International Economics.

For Doha to be a success, countries would most likely have to agree on an agenda broad enough to address the concerns of key participants, Schott said.

In areas like antitrust, investment, labour and the environment, the negotiating mandate would have to be very narrowly defined to assure developing countries "they're not biting off more than they can chew," he said.

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