Protesters ready as WTO trade talks start

By Doug Palmer

HONG KONG (Reuters) – Top trade negotiators from nearly 150
countries kick off efforts on Tuesday to salvage troubled world
trade talks, while thousands of protesters are expected to take
to the street hoping they fail.

“We need to use our time here very productively,” U.S.
Trade Representative Rob Portman said before the official start
of the World Trade Organization’s sixth ministerial meeting.

“We’ve been at this for four years. It’s time to bring the
Doha Round (of trade talks) to an end. It’s time to make the
tough decisions.”

Countries still hope to reach a final deal by the end of
2006. But they gave up weeks ago on trying to agree a blueprint
for that in Hong Kong because of deep differences over how far
to open farm, services and factory goods markets to more trade.

The EU, in particular, has faced intense pressure to offer
deeper cuts in its agriculture tariffs.

Instead, WTO members are expected to agree on a development
package to help poor countries prosper from trade
liberalization.

The center of that is an EU proposal for industrialized
nations to open their markets to least-developed country
products on a “duty-free, quota-free” basis, which Brussels
already does.

Protesters will mark the start of the six-day meeting with
the second of three marches. That is expected to draw at least
1,500 South Korean farmers and workers, who are among the most
militant anti-trade activists in Asia and have a reputation for
violence.

PROTESTS PLANNED

A South Korean farmer protesting against proposals to cut
farm trade barriers committed suicide at the WTO’s 2003
ministerial meeting in Cancun, Mexico, by stabbing himself in
the heart.

About 10,000 people are expected to take part in the
various protests this week. They will march to pre-designated
areas, but Hong Kong authorities fear breakaway groups may turn
violent.

Rich nations could also pledge funding for new
infrastructure and other projects to help poor countries
improve their ability to trade.

EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson said he hoped for
early agreement on the overall development package, with
“figures that can be broken down country-by-country.”

Japan, also facing pressure to cut agriculture tariffs, has
announced it will provide some $10 billion in loans and other
trade-related aid as its contribution.

The United States already has trade preferences for many
poor countries under its own programs, but is prepared to join
the duty-free, quota-free plan, Portman said.

Washington would reserve the right to exempt some products
from poor countries that have competitive industries, Portman
added, in an apparent reference to textiles and clothing.

U.S. textile manufacturers have complained that the plan
could potentially bring increased imports from Bangladesh and
other poor countries with well-developed textile sectors.

Portman said Washington would provide more than $1.3
billion in grants this year to help developing countries
improve their ability to trade, and is prepared to do more.

“But we have to remember that progress on the development
package is no substitute for progress on the market access
openings” that are key to a final deal, he said.

That hurdle still looked daunting. The EU responded to a
Brazilian threat that no deal could come without substantial
European concessions on agriculture by saying progress also
needed reciprocal movement in other areas.

“If Brazil does not move on non-agricultural areas, then
there won’t be an overall deal,” Danish Foreign and Trade
Minister Per Stig Moeller said in Brussels.

“It has to be a win-win situation, not an ‘everybody wins,
but Europe loses’,” he said.

(Additional reporting by Mary-Louise Moller in Brussels)