*EPF406 09/04/2003
Agreement on Ag Framework Critical for WTO Success, USTR Says
(Joint U.S.-EU proposals set stage for Cancun conference, Zoellick says) (490)

By Andrzej Zwaniecki
Washington File Staff Writer

Washington --An agreement on a framework for agricultural negotiations will be critical for the success of a major World Trade Organization (WTO) conference in Cancun, Mexico, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick says.

Speaking September 4 at a trade symposium, Zoellick said an agricultural agreement would boost chances for progress toward agreement on a framework for negotiations on market access for manufactured goods and for other parts of the Doha Development agenda at the September 10-14 mid-term WTO ministerial conference. In 2001 in Doha, Qatar, WTO countries agreed to launch a new round of trade negotiations and set a January 2005 deadline for completing talks.

Zoellick said joint proposals on agriculture and manufactured goods submitted by the United States and the European Union (EU) set the stage for the Cancun conference by demonstrating that the two giant economies, which are sometimes at odds on trade issues, can cooperate when the stakes are high. But those proposals, he said, must incorporate the views of other countries to provide a structure for further negotiations on specific goals.

In August U.S. and EU negotiators tabled a joint paper on agriculture at the WTO, hoping it would allow the stalled negotiations on market access and domestic supports to move forward. The agricultural negotiations have already missed deadlines set in 2001as a result of radically different U.S. and EU approaches. Also in August, the United States and the EU, joined by Canada, submitted a proposal intended to bolster negotiations on market access for industrial goods.

Zoellick said that a recent WTO agreement on poor countries' access to cheaper generic drugs was another success that is likely to create a positive negotiating climate in Cancun.

"By many poor countries it [the drug issue] was seen as a test if the rules of the global economic system can deal with their serious problems," he said.

Nevertheless, Zoellick said the WTO must find "customized" solutions to help poor countries gain trade benefits rather then clump together giants like India and China with smaller and poorer countries.

In general, he said, the United States is seeking an ambitious trade agenda, aggressive timeframe and priorities that include agriculture, manufactured goods and services.

EU Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy, who joined Zoellick via videolink from Brussels, said that the WTO round can succeed if it is treated as the "fixed menu" agenda rather than "a la carte" talks.

"We don't have to agree on every item but it is important that we do not add new issues or remove the existing ones," he said.

It is also important not to frame the debate about trade issues in terms of North-South and South-South relations, Lamy said.

"We all have to work together on issues important to both group of countries, " he said.

(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

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