OTTAWA (AFP) - Canadian officials expressed doubt that any substantial progress could be made at next week's World Trade Organization ministerial meeting in Cancun, Mexico.
The sticking points, Canadian officials said on background, remained essentially in the agricultural domain with the United States and the European Union mainly responsible for holding up progress.
Canada's negotiating team in Cancun will be led by International Trade Minister Pierre Pettigrew, Agriculture Minister Lyle Vanclief and International Cooperation Minister Susan Whelan.
Farm trade, coupled with industrial tariffs and market access for poorer countries, are seen as the key stumbling blocks to success at the Cancun meeting on September 10-14.
In a statement, Pettigrew said: "It is essential that we re-affirm our commitment to the goals and objectives we set in Doha," where the latest round of trade talks began in 2001.
"There is still a long way to go and much work ahead to ensure a successful round," he admitted.
At a background briefing, senior officials admitted they were pessimistic about the chances of the Cancun meeting bringing measurable advances. They said there was no certainty the January 1, 2005 deadline for a new world trade agreement would be met.
"Our aim is to meet the deadline," one official, who declined to be identified, said.
Originally, the plans were for next week's meeting to finalize target figures for eliminating all agricultural export subsidies and reducing or even eliminating other "trade-distorting measures" in the farm sector.
These figures have not been met and now the best hope for Cancun would be to agree to "frameworks" for negotiating the "modalities."
"Canada and some others would prefer to delay (the deadline) rather than water down the modalities. But we still believe the deadline is possible," the Canadian official said.
The officials said Canada's goals remained the same as when the current round of trade liberalization talks began in Doha: elimination of trade subsidies and a "substantial reduction in trade distorting measures."
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