After nearly four days of hectic consultations among 148 trade ministers, the World Trade Organisation issued a 15-page draft resolution heavily loaded in favour of the US and European Union on the contentious agriculture and Singapore issues.
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The draft, prepared by the chairman of the WTO Ministerial Meet, Mexican Foreign Minister Louis Ernesto Derbez, and released late on Saturday, provides very little for developing countries on agriculture excepting forcing member countries to cut farm subsidies, which are very high in the developed nations.
However, it does not go as far as many developing nations have demanded in this regard and some in their first reaction have called it 'unacceptable'.
In his initial reaction, Commerce Minister Arun Jaitley said, "India is very unhappy as it disregards our concerns."
The G-22 group of developing countries, led by India, Brazil and China, asked for the elimination of all subsidies for goods being exported and major cuts in subsidies for domestic farm products. But the proposal appears to fall far short of what these countries demanded.
Moreover, the document does not set a date for the elimination of export subsidies, which the developing countries have been pressing for. It also offers smaller reductions than the developing countries demanded of the domestic payments.
"For the credibility of the WTO, the final text cannot look like this," Hegel Gourties, a spokesman of the grouping of African, Caribbean and Pacific nations, told reporters in Cancun, Mexico.
The draft may have hit India the most on agriculture as it is to the liking of the industrialised nations without conceding the demands of poorer countries.
Even though it provides for phasing out the farm subsidies in rich countries, the developing countries will have to commit themselves to opening their own heavily protected agricultural markets, a central demand of the US.
Apparently, the draft does not provide for addressing the livelihood concerns of the 650 million poor farmers in India.
Despite their stiff opposition to the introduction of new issues - the so-called Singapore issues - the developing countries as per the draft will now have to launch negotiations at a future date on rules governing foreign investment, a major issue favoured by the European Union and Japan.
US Trade Representative Robert B Zoellick, in a short statement on the draft Cancun Ministerial text, said, "There are positive elements and there are other elements we will work to improve and clarify. Now comes the crucial give-and-take towards a final document. We will continue to push for high ambition, balanced by appropriate flexibility.
"The US came to Cancun with commitment and ambition. The chairman and the five facilitators have worked hard to produce this constructive text that we hope will move the process forward," Zoellick said.
