SHARM EL-SHEIK, Egypt (AP) - Trade leaders from across the globe wrapped up a two-day meeting Sunday with doubts emerging for the first time about the chances of their achieving a new trade treaty by the end of next year.
The informal conference of 29 members of the World Trade Organization failed to find any common ground on how to open up farm trade to international competition, and ministers acknowledged that there is little chance of success in any other area until that is decided.
"We are ready to get down to work if Europe frees the way for us to move,'' said U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick, referring to discussions in the European Union on how to reform its huge farm subsidy program.
EU Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy said Europe is "working hard to get a package of reform, and once we have done that our negotiation credit in WTO will be increased.''
"And I have plenty of ideas of how I will be able to spend that credit,'' he added, hinting that the EU, too, is seeking concessions from other countries before it will sign off on the treaty.
EU countries will meet again next week to make another attempt at agreeing a way of cutting farm subsidies amid heavy resistance from France and some others who fear the cuts could badly affect small farmers and rural communities.
This weekend's meeting was a preparation session for a gathering of the WTO's 146 members in Cancun, Mexico, in September.
That will mark the halfway point in the current "round'' of trade negotiations that is supposed to be completed by the end of next year.
Until now, ministers have continued to insist they can achieve that deadline, but Lamy acknowledged Sunday that it is uncertain.
"We will decide in Cancun whether or not we can reconfirm this deadline, and we can only do that if there is enough progress,'' he said.
He specified six areas where more work is needed, including agriculture, tariffs on manufactured goods and new negotiations on regulation of competition and foreign investment.
The round, when completed, would see reductions in import tariffs and other barriers to international trade, which governments hope will give a much-needed boost to the global economy.
"I am not sure that the conclusion of a round would be good news, but I am sure the failure of a round would be bad news,'' Lamy said.
In areas other than agriculture, ministers said good progress is being made, and there was a glimmer of hope of an agreement on ensuring cheap drugs to treat diseases like HIV/AIDS and malaria in poor nations after the United States made a key concession.
A senior U.S. trade official said Washington no longer insists that an agreement that would allow countries to import cheap, generic copies of drugs under certain conditions should be limited to a list of specified diseases.
"The approach of a specific list has proved not to work, so ... we are not insisting on such a list at this point,'' the official said.
WTO rules allow countries facing public health crises to override patents and order their drugs from cheaper, generic suppliers.
But they can only order from domestic manufacturers, which is of no use for the majority of poor nations that have no pharmaceuticals industry.
An agreement that would have allowed imports of generic drugs in certain circumstances collapsed late last year when the United States, under pressure from major drugs companies, refused to accept it, despite agreement by all other WTO members.
Zoellick said he is talking regularly with drug companies from all over the world and he hopes to forge an agreement by the Cancun meeting.
Companies are concerned that large developing countries like India and Brazil are trying to take advantage of the agreement to benefit their generic manufacturers, and also fear that some cheap drugs destined for poor countries could be smuggled back into industrialized countries.
"I think at this point it is important that companies have a chance to express their ideas,'' Zoellick said.
The ministers plan to meet again at the end of July in Montreal, Canada, to try to narrow differences further before the Cancun meeting. - AP
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