The
much-hyped "ministerial summit" at the annual
gathering of policymakers with corporate chiefs at Davos
reached its climax after four days of talks about the
global economy, climate change and development, with
the focus firmly on stalled global trade negotiations.
This
year the conclave at the World Economic Forum featured
the usual mix of debate and networking as politicians
and the world's most highly paid corporate executives,
who pay $26,000 to attend, mingled at the holiday resort
in the Swiss Alps.
EU
trade commissioner and WTO chief Pascal Lamy had make
hectic efforts with the 30-odd trade ministers to get
the rich and the poorer nations to agree to more concessions
to enable the five years of heated and acrimonious disagreements
during the Doha round to finally culminate in to a global
agreement on trade and tariffs.
On
Wednesday Mandelson told the UK-based Financial Times
that he saw a breakthrough next month Indicating that
cuts in farm tariffs, subsidies and goods tariffs was
not far away. During a panel discussion on Africa, even
British prime minister Tony Blair had said that he expected
the trade talks to get underway again.
However,
the US, trade representative Susan Schwab, has been
far more circumspect throughout. Schwab was quoted as
saying a framework agreement was possible "in a
matter of months", but that would require rapid
progress in the next few weeks.
Blair,
along with pop star and activist Bono, had stressed
during the debate that the Doha round was a vital part
of development efforts of allowing developing countries
to trade their way out of poverty.
However,
a day ahead of the crucial meeting between trade ministers
of key WTO players on Friday, India and other developing
countries comprising the G-33 put the onus of restarting
the stalled global trade talks on developed countries,
particularly the US and EU.
Addressing
the G-33 meeting, commerce minister Kamal Nath said,
"The livelihood of billions of poor and vulnerable
farmers in developing countries cannot be jeopardised."
"For
us, agriculture is not trade, it is livelihood,"
Nath maintained. Along with other ministers, Nath stressed
the importance of G-33's unity in safeguarding the interests
of farmers and cautioned against attempts to steamroll
agreements that could adversely impact their livelihood.
He
said must be mutual respect of sensitivities if the
Doha round negotiations were to move forward and also
offered to host a G-33 meeting in New Delhi in March
this year.
India's
stand, particularly on agriculture negotiations, was
also supported by China, which agreed that the issue
was not just of trade but of subsidies and how to reduce
it.
A
strong articulation of the G-33 position could be an
indication that the deadlock on trade talks might continue
unless the US, which is locked in disagreements with
the EU on import tariffs, changes its position on reducing
farm subsidies.
The
Doha round, which was launched in Qatar's capital in
2001, aims to eliminate trade barriers by reducing subsidies
and tariffs and was supposed to be the final and clinching
round of the general agreements on trades and tariffs.
However,
the talks have been locked in dispute over the quantum
of the cuts and the Doha round was suspended by WTO
director-general Pascal Lamy last July following acrimonious
meetings pitting the EU, the US and developing countries
against each other.
Though
there is uncertainty about whether Lamy will decide
to re-start the talks after Saturday's meeting amid
mixed signals about the chances of making major progress
that could lead to a final agreement.
Commentators
believe that even if Lamy were to decide to restart
formal negotiations, any final agreement would require
political approval that would face opposition in the
current climate.
However,
the Davos annual gathering was not about trade disagreements
at the mini ministerial meeting. The forum also focused
unprecedented attention on climate change, Africa's
special development needs initiated by Blair,
Bono and Bill Gates that succeeded in putting Africa
on top of the agenda on Friday and peace initiatives
in the Middle East.
Palestinian
president Mahmud Abbas was a star attraction, sharing
a stage with Israeli foreign minister Tzipi Livni and
deputy prime minister Shimon Peres for a discussion
on ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on Thursday.
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