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The countries of the G-33 reaffirmed their unity and stance
within the context of the Doha Agenda as they concluded their two-day
meeting Wednesday, but said that a breakthrough in the WTO agricultural
trade negotiations depended on the developed countries.
Indian Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath admitted that finding
a breakthrough at the meeting had never been on the agenda.
"This meeting was not about finding a breakthrough. This meeting has
committed itself to constructive engagement toward a breakthrough,"
Nath said during the closing of the G-33 ministerial meeting Wednesday.
Nath said the meeting was more about signaling that the G-33 countries,
which had highly vulnerable agricultural sectors and large populations
of subsistence farmers, were willing to constructively engage in the
development round, and that the developed countries needed to respond
accordingly.
He also said that the presence of representatives from the G-20,
European Union, G-10, the African Group, the African, Caribbean and the
Pacific (ACP) groups, and the Small and Vulnerable Economies (SVEs)
group, as well as WTO director general Pascal Lamy, during the course
of the meeting clearly showed the strong support for the stance of the
G-33.
The G-33 has been pressing for the acceptance of the special products
(SP) and special safeguard measures (SSM) proposal, which allow for the
exemption of tariff cuts for certain products, specific to each
country, with the aim of protecting people's livelihoods, food security
and promoting rural development in developing countries.
Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim, who is also the coordinator of
the G-20, said that the meeting should persuade the U.S. and Europe to
show the leadership they needed to show.
"This leadership will be expressed in a real substantial offer ...,"
Amorim said.
Before the Doha Agenda negotiations recommenced on Feb. 7, the United
States would only offer to cut its agricultural subsidies by 53
percent, as opposed to the EU's demand of 75 percent, and the G-33's 70
percent.
Speaking on behalf of Indonesia as the chair of the G-33, Trade
Minister Mari Elka Pangestu said the meeting agreed on three points:
the need for the early removal of trade distortions caused by subsidies
and significant market barriers in developed countries, the need to
uphold the proposals of developing countries, and the need for
developed countries to show leadership and move the multilateral
negotiations forward by making detailed and specific offers.
"Of course, a breakthrough as regards agricultural trade depends
significantly on the progress made in the negotiations between the G-4
countries (U.S. EU, India and Brazil)," Mari said.
On behalf of the European Union, EU trade commissioner Peter Mandelson
said the willingness of the G-33 to engage constructively was very
important and that it demonstrated the key role developing country
groups would have in the end game at the negotiations.
"I feel we should be more confident of success as a result of this
meeting in Jakarta," he concluded.
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