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Brazil Calls for G-20 Unity at WTO Hong Kong Meeting

Posted on: Sunday, 13 November 2005, 18:00 CST

By Lenilson Ferreira, Kyodo News International, Tokyo

Nov. 12--RIO DE JANEIRO -- Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has urged the G-20 member countries to remain united at the World Trade Organization ministerial talks on trade liberalization next month in Hong Kong.

"I am convinced, more than ever, that only the unity of the G-20 will be able to guarantee that, at this crucial moment, our interests are considered and the round is successful," said the letter Lula da Silva has sent to G-20 leaders, which the Foreign Ministry released.

Brazil has played an important role in setting up the Group of 20, an alliance of developing countries primarily established to defend their interests on farm trade issues at the Doha round of global trade liberalization talks under the WTO.

The G-20, which includes Brazil, China and India, represents 60 percent of the world population, 70 percent of the people who reside in rural areas and 26 percent of global agriculture exports.

The WTO members have aimed at striking a comprehensive accord involving numerical goals at the Dec. 13-18 Hong Kong meeting, which is seen as crucial for successfully concluding the Doha Round by the end of 2006.

But WTO chief Pascal Lamy said Thursday he had given up on the goal of having its member economies reach a detailed agreement in Hong Kong for opening up global trade.

The G-20 countries have proposed that developed nations should cut tariffs on agriculture goods by at least 54 percent and eliminate all forms of export subsidies no later than 2010.

Lula da Silva said the "recent proposals the European Union and the United States have made represent new challenges for the G-20.""We must fortify the unity of the group and its capacity to face the attempts that, I am sure, will be made to divide it and weaken it," Lula da Silva said.

The Brazilian president said he understands that the "Hong Kong Conference will be a fundamental moment to guarantee the accomplishment" of the G-20's national interests and aspirations.

He has warned that other nations may make some proposals that, under the guise of realistically moving to reduce agriculture subsidies, will, in fact, be bad for the G-20.

He reminded his counterparts that the G-20, which was established in the run-up the WTO meeting in Cancun, Mexico, has been successful in fending off proposals from developed countries that were not in the best interests of developing countries.

"The role the G-20 has played since its creation has been instrumental for the progress made until the present," he said.

Meanwhile, the G-20 ministers who met in Geneva on Wednesday have issued a communique stating that with just a month left until Hong Kong, huge gaps remain between them and developing nations, which they blamed as being "mainly responsible for trade distortions and protection.""The U.S. proposal falls short of responding to G-20 proposals.

There must be real cuts in all forms of trade-distorting domestic support and effective new disciplines," they said in the communique.

Many Brazilian analysts are pessimistic about the chances for success in Hong Kong as developed nations have shown a lack of will to negotiate on key agriculture issues.

Reflecting these concerns, Lamy on Thursday said, "We need to recreate a negotiating spirit among members, which has been absent these last days." But the Brazilian president seems more worried about preserving the unity of the G-20, whose performance he has said is "technically solid and politically mature.""We must look at the future, bearing in mind the unity of the group and the fact that its strength transcends this stage," he said.

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Source: Kyodo News International, Tokyo

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