WTO has released a draft text on the contentious issues of agriculture and industrial tariffs but it appears that not much headway has been made with wide differences persisting among member nations.
The text, presented to WTO Director General Pascal Lamy on Thursday night ahead of the key mini-ministerial next week, admits there has been little movement on most issues, including tariff reduction formula in industrial goods and agriculture, sensitive and special products and cut in farm subsidies.
"It is not an elegant document. But it reflects the reality of where we are. When all is said and done, where there are divergences, there are divergences," New Zealand Ambassador Crawford Falconer, who chairs the Committee on Agriculture, said in his introduction to the draft.
The agriculture text is full of brackets, in fact at more than 760 places, indicating that there was no consensus on these issues. The main points of contention still remain tariff cuts and reduction in domestic subsidies.
"I have not attempted to invent solutions where none has emerged so far," Crawford said.
Canadian Ambassador Don Stephenson, who chaired the panel on non-agricultural market access or industrial tariffs, also admitted that there was no consensus on most issues.
"I regret that I am unable to fulfil the mandate, as a result of the failure of the Negotiating Group to find consensus on many important issues; and the present report is at best a step in the direction of full modalities," he said.
Trade ministers from about 40 countries including India, the US and EU are scheduled to meet in Geneva from June 29 to July 2 during a mini-ministerial to discuss the progress in agriculture and industrial tariffs negotiations.
But with consensus eluding member countries -- as is evident from the draft text -- analysts said there is unlikely to be much movement in trade talks. The possibility of concluding the Doha round this year as scheduled is becoming increasingly remote, they said.
If countries fail to reach an agreement by the end of 2006, the Doha round of negotiations to arrive at a global trade pact could be delayed beyond 2009 as US Administration's Fast Track Authority to get approval from the US Congress expires next year.
The draft farm text shows that tariff cuts could be in the range of 20 per cent to 90 per cent depending on the prevalent tariff rates.
On sensitive products, developed countries could be allowed up to 15 per cent of their products, while developing nations may designate up to 50 per cent more than the highest of a rich nation. But all this has to be agreed yet.
On NAMA, the text mentions that member nations have not reached any agreement on the tariff reduction formula. The two formula -- Swiss and ABI (Argentina-Brazil-India) -- were still on the table, although Ambassador Stephenseon suggested focussing on a Swiss formula with two co-efficients.
However, NAMA negotiations remain dependent on progress in agriculture, he said, adding this was true in case of overall negotiations as well as specific issues such as level of ambition in tariff reduction formula.
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