Trade ministers from 149 countries on Friday salvaged the WTO talks from the brink of total collapse, as they agreed to grant duty-free and quota-free access to poor countries and moved ahead on the contentious farm sector -- crucial to India and other developing nations.
After hectic negotiations during the last four days, the ministers at the WTO Ministerial in Hong Kong have agreed on a development package for poor countries.
They have also made some progress on the contentious issue of farm subsidies even though there is not much movement on industrial tariffs and services, the two other contentious issues in the Doha round.
Trade officials privy to the hectic parleys said key negotiators were able to agree on a draft text for Least Developed Countries that addressed both the demands of poor countries and developed nations like the United States and Japan.
The LDC text, which Indian negotiators have termed as 'comfortable,' is expected to be made final on Saturday.
Both rich and leading developing countries ('those in Position') like India, China and Brazil have agreed to provide duty-free, quota-free access on a 'lasting basis' for all products that will give 'stability, security and predictability' to the LDCs, trade officials said.
The negotiators agreed on the package after least developed countries dropped their demand that all of their products be allowed duty-free access.
In return, the US and Japan will limit the exemptions to a fixed per cent that will be worked out later, officials said, adding that such exemptions would also end by a set date.
Among the WTO members, there are at least 32 LDCs with per capita income of less than $750.
According to the text of the agreement, developing countries like India, China and Brazil will be allowed more flexibility than developed countries.
Those developed countries facing difficulties in giving 100 per cent market access can negotiate it to a lesser level but will have to come to 100 per cent by a certain year.
Developing countries like India are given flexibility to time their commitments. They will have to notify and report their market opening initiatives to WTO's committee on trade and development.
"I think it will be accpetable to all countries. The LDC package should be credible and it is the bare minimum, which should be achieved at Hong Kong," Indonesian Trade Minister and G-33 coordinator Mari Elka Pangestu said.
Besides the LDC package, negotiators have also made some forward movement on the contentious issue of farm subsidies. The agriculture text is expected to come out later in the day. Officials said there has been some progress on deciding the end date for export subsidies by fixing it at 2010.
However, the European Union, which wanted movement in industrial goods and services, on which differences still persist, is still to make up its mind on agriculture. Hectic negotiations are on to finalise an agreement on another thorny issue of cotton, a key demand of West African countries of Benin, Chad, Mali and Burkina Faso.
There is also little movement on Special Products and Special Safeguard Mechanism, which developing countries want to secure livelihood and food security concerns of their farmers.
