Home>News Center>China
       
 

Last-minute deal breathes new life into WTO trade talks
By Liu Weiling and Dai Yan (China Daily)
Updated: 2005-12-19 05:20

HONG KONG: After six days of marathon bargaining, exhausted trade negotiators reached a last-minute but modest deal yesterday to avert a collapse in global free trade talks and developing countries tasted the power of solidarity.

Escorted by security officials, WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy leaves the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center after an overnight meeting Sunday, Dec. 18, 2005. The last-minute negotiations at the WTO summit were focused on whether delegates could agree on a date to end export subsidies, with developing nations saying a deal had been struck while the European Union said there still was no agreement. (AP
Escorted by security officers, WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy leaves the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center after an overnight meeting Sunday, Dec. 18, 2005. The last-minute negotiations at the WTO summit were focused on whether delegates could agree on a date to end export subsidies, with developing nations saying a deal had been struck while the European Union said there still was no agreement. [AP]

The 150 WTO members approved the Ministerial Declaration last night against a backdrop of protests by thousands of anti-WTO demonstrators near the convention venue.

The agreement reflected moderate progress on agriculture the most contentious issue of the talks and steps forward in other areas such as services, non-agricultural market access and aid for trade.

The wealthy countries agreed they would eliminate farm export subsidies by 2013, according to the declaration.

Although the date is three years later than the original proposal of 2010, a substantial part of the subsidy cuts will be realized by the end of the first half of the implementation, which, according to Brazil's Foreign Minister Celso Amorim, refers to 2010.

Peter Mandelson, the European Union trade commissioner who had been under fire for unwilling to set an end date for farm export subsidies until Saturday, called the deal "a genuine advance for the agriculture negotiations and for the development goals of the Doha Round."

On cotton, an issue of wide concern to African nations, the ministers agreed that all forms of export subsidies will be eliminated by developed countries in 2006.

Meanwhile, developed countries will give duty- and quota-free access to cotton exporters from least-developed countries from the commencement of the implementation period.

The revised text also sets April 30, 2006, as a new deadline to work out formulas for cutting farm and industrial tariffs and subsidies - a key step towards forging a sweeping global free trade treaty by the end of next year.

The progress achieved yesterday, according to Deputy US Trade Representative Susan Schwab, laid a platform for successful negotiations in many other areas in the future.

The deal has put the Doha round back on track, WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy said at the closing ceremony last night. "We are heading in the right direction now."

Schwab said the US is comfortable with the text in the declaration, but "this is not a finished negotiation," and there will be further discussions in Geneva or other places in the next few months to conclude the Doha negotiations launched in the capital of Qatar in 2001 before the end of next year.

There is a new political energy to speed up the talks, Lamy said. "There is no time to rest."

Zhang Xiangchen, director of WTO Affairs Department of the Ministry of Commerce, said China is pleased to see the meeting achieve positive results, but sticking points remain in future negotiations and need to be addressed with alacrity.

Celso Amorim, representing the G20 group of developing countries, said he would qualify the agreement as "modest, but not insignificant." He told a news conference: "I think it's a fair compromise."

India's Trade Minister Kamal Nath said the deal focuses on various problems faced by developing countries, adding the strategy to forge a grand alliance of 110 developing countries had paid off. "G20 has become a major voice for yes or no," he said.

"The biggest message that we send out of this Hong Kong conference is that developing countries have been able to articulate together in one voice their concerns and developed countries need to look at this change in talks on the future of global trade," he said.

Yet there were plenty of people dissatisfied with the result. The African Cotton Producers Organization, for example, complained that the deal didn't touch on the elimination of trade-distorting domestic subsidies of developed countries.

(China Daily 12/19/2005 page1)



Supermarket on fire in Hunan
Big day for Basi, the giant panda
Ice sculptures in Urumqi
  Today's Top News     Top China News
 

HK recovers from violent protests during WTO meeting

 

   
 

Analysts expect China to revise GDP by 20%

 

   
 

Iran seeks to sign key oil deal with China

 

   
 

3 villagers killed during riot at power plant

 

   
 

Welfare heating to be stopped in 2007

 

   
 

Bush: Pullout would hand Iraq to enemies

 

   
  Welfare heating to be stopped in 2007
   
  3 villagers killed during riot at power plant
   
  Electrician detained for Liaoyuan hospital fire
   
  HK recovers from violent protests during WTO meeting
   
  Iran seeks to sign key oil deal with China
   
  State urges end of poultry restrictions
   
 
  Go to Another Section  
 
 
  Story Tools  
   
  News Talk  
  It is time to prepare for Beijing - 2008  
Manufacturers, Exporters, Wholesalers - Global trade starts here.
Advertisement
         
主站蜘蛛池模板: 试看60边摸边吃奶边做| a级片免费网站| 暖暖免费高清日本一区二区三区| 人人爽人人爽人人爽人人片av| 色婷婷.com| 国产性猛交xx乱| 亚洲国产av一区二区三区丶 | 一个人看的www片免费中文 | 人妻精品久久久久中文字幕69| 中文字幕在线观看第一页| 最近更新2019中文字幕8| 亚洲狠狠婷婷综合久久久久| 精品一区二区三区中文| 四虎影视在线观看永久地址| 韩国中文电影在线看完整免费版| 国产男人午夜视频在线观看| 337p人体大胆扒开下部| 在线免费观看污网站| selaoban在线视频免费精品| 怡红院视频在线观看| 中文字幕在线免费看线人| 日本免费人成视频在线观看| 久青草久青草视频在线观看| 林俊逸高圆圆第1190章| 亚洲人成网站在线观看播放动漫 | 久久精品一本到99热免费| 暖暖在线视频日本| 亚洲一卡二卡三卡| 欧美三级视频在线| 亚洲国产一区二区三区在线观看| 欧美极品欧美日韩| 亚洲欧洲尹人香蕉综合| 欧美最猛黑人猛交69| 亚洲欧美综合人成野草| 欧美黑人又粗又大又爽免费| 亚洲综合色网站| 污视频网站在线免费看| 国产一区二区精品久久岳√| 91成人免费在线视频| 在线观看日本www| 99久久免费精品高清特色大片|