MONTREAL - In a last-ditch attempt to reconcile opposing positions, a group of trade ministers on Tuesday agreed to look for new ways of reducing global import duties on farm goods.
Leading ministers attending an informal meeting of the World Trade Organization said they would seek a formula that strikes a balance between countries that want big cuts to boost their exports and countries that want smaller cuts to protect their domestic producers.
"It's going to require immense effort, but I think that on the basis of what we've seen today we are still in the game," said WTO spokesman Keith Rockwell.
The ministers from 25 countries are in Montreal at the invitation of Canada's Pierre Pettigrew to try to smooth the way to a meeting of all 146 WTO members in Cancun, Mexico, in September.
The 146 members of the World Trade Organization are split almost evenly on the subject of agricultural import duties, which is quickly becoming the biggest stumbling block in attempts to create a new treaty to remove barriers to international trade.
Major agricultural exporters like the United States, Australia and Brazil want all import duties cut to an average of 25 percent. Big importers like the European Union and Japan, as well some developing countries, say the duties should instead be cut by a proportion — they propose 36 percent — meaning that certain products would still have high protection.
Finding a compromise between the two positions will be difficult, but negotiators said it was progress simply to have accepted that the compromise was needed.
"I think this could be a workable basis in order to find a solution," said EU agriculture spokesman Gregor Kreuzhuber. "It remains to be seen to what extent we can make progress."
Earlier, a senior diplomat said poor nations that want to use cheap copies of patented drugs to treat diseases like HIV/AIDS and malaria might give assurances that drugs wouldn't be smuggled back to rich countries.
Eduardo Perez Motta, Mexico's WTO ambassador, told The Associated Press that some countries have said they would accept a "chairman's statement" that would accompany a formal agreement allowing poor nations to override patents in certain circumstances.
"Mexico has an interest for this to be solved before Cancun, and we expect that this will happen," Perez Motta said.
WTO rules already 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 industries.
In December 2002, all WTO members except the United States said they would sign up to an agreement that would have allowed poor countries to order their drugs from foreign manufacturers. But the U.S. refusal has blocked the issue ever since.
U.S. pharmaceutical companies are jittery about the deal because they fear that drugs destined for poor nations could end up being smuggled back into rich countries, cutting into their profits.
They also fear that generic manufacturers in large developing countries like Brazil and India could use the agreement to boost their own profits rather than acting out of humanitarian intentions.
U.S. officials have said they are in intensive talks with drug companies and poor nations to find a solution to the deadlock.
The meeting also has attracted hundreds of protesters who claim the WTO is boosting corporate profits at the expense of the poor and the environment. They want to disrupt the meeting.
On Monday police made 238 arrests and by Tuesday morning 140 people were still in custody on charges of illegal assembly, obstruction or mischief.
Meanwhile, Canada is using the meeting to show the world that its beef is safe to eat despite a case of mad cow disease.
"Canadian beef will be on the menu as often as possible," government spokesman Sebastien Theberge said.
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