EU says SA summit could help WTO talks
The European Union has given a cautious welcome to the outcome of a summit of three big developing countries, which stressed the need for a deal in struggling world trade talks.
The leaders of Brazil, India and South Africa on Wednesday reaffirmed their commitment to seeking a deal in the long-delayed World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) Doha round of global free-trade talks that was “fair and acceptable to all”.
“The outcome of the summit seems to be positive for the Doha round,” said Peter Power, a spokesperson for EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson.
The EU and the United States had urged the three countries to say at the summit that they would continue the talks on the basis of compromise proposals floated in July by the chairpersons of WTO negotiating groups, which included ranges of tariffs cuts.
Those cuts included reductions for tariffs on industrial goods, which developing countries have said would expose their industrial sectors to too much competition from rich countries.
But Brussels and Washington say any lesser cuts would eliminate any new market openings for their exporters.
In a summit declaration, South Africa, Brazil and India said the texts for agriculture and industrial goods were “a good basis for negotiations”.
But they also said the key to unlocking the talks was rich countries opening up their protected farm markets and that “development imperative ... should not be linked with meeting the disproportionate demands by developed countries in the [industrial goods] and services negotiations.”
EU spokesperson Power said the leaders “seem to have decided not to step outside the process, as defined by the Geneva chairs’ texts, and we draw encouragement for this”.
“We hope that all negotiators in Geneva will actively engage to see this process through,” he said in a statement emailed late on Wednesday.
Trade diplomats have expressed frustration that comments from political leaders in support of a Doha deal have often not translated into new negotiating positions at the WTO in Geneva.
The United States also gave a cautious welcome to the Pretoria summit, saying “it would seem as though” Brazil and India were willing to negotiate on the basis of the July texts.
The Doha round was launched in 2001 to boost the global economy and help poor nations to export more.
