CANCUN, Mexico (CP) - Negotiators from 146 countries sat down to thorny trade negotiations Wednesday, with rich and poor countries pushing conflicting agendas on agricultural reform and leaders cautioning their decisions could mean life or death for billions of people.
Canada's delegation includes Trade Minister Pierre Pettigrew, Agriculture Minister Lyle Vanclief, International Co-operation Minister Susan Whelan and various provincial officials.
Thousands of poor farmers, worried more trade will drive them out of business, clashed with riot police as they tried to storm past barricades blocking the site of the World Trade Organization meeting. One protester died after ceremonially stabbing himself.
Leaders at the opening WTO session made clear they will try to level the playing field on farm trade by persuading rich countries to make deep cuts in the nearly $1 billion US a day they pay their farmers.
Those subsidies help U.S. and European farms stay profitable but make it hard for poor farmers in Africa, Asia and Latin America to compete in a globalized market.
"The eyes of the world are on this conference and people will judge us by the choices we make," WTO Director-General Supachai Panitchpakdi told delegates as the meeting opened in a cavernous hall.
The biggest opponents to major subsidy cuts - the United States, European nations and Japan - wield tremendous weight in the 146-country organization, largely because their markets constitute the bulk of the global economy.
The United States and Europe agreed last month on a proposal for moderate cuts in subsidies and tariffs but developing countries have been critical, saying the champions of free trade need to go further. A group of 21 developing countries have banded together to put pressure on rich countries for deeper agricultural reforms.
"No longer can we allow ourselves prosperity restricted to a few nations," Mexican President Vicente Fox said at the opening ceremony.
A draft EU proposal, obtained Wednesday by the development aid group Oxfam, removes references to the eventual "phasing out" of all subsidies aimed specifically at export - a position Oxfam called a disaster.
"The gap between their rhetoric and their negotiation position is astonishing," said Jo Leadbeater, head of Oxfam's Brussels office.
Dozens of activists chanted "Shame!" from the back of the hall, holding up signs calling the WTO obsolete and undemocratic and nearly drowning out a speech by Mexico's foreign minister.
Thousands more protesters massed nearby. The group was made up largely of farmers demanding agricultural protections be kept in place.
Canadian Federation of Agriculture president, Bob Friesen, plans to join Canadian dairy, egg and poultry farmers in Cancun on Friday for a seminar on fair and equitable market access in agriculture, a statement released Wednesday said.
The statement said Friesen would outline how the Canadian position "addresses the inequalities that resulted from the last round of negotiations."
"This is a battle of the rich against the poor," said Leon Crump, a vegetable farmer from South Carolina.
"And no one is poorer in the United States than farmers."
Protesters and riot police battled for hours along a chain-link fence separating Cancun from the peninsula that houses beach resorts and the city's famous all-you-can-drink watering holes, as well as the hall where WTO delegates are meeting.
Protesters pushed down the fence, prompting hundreds of police to try and drive them away with tear gas and nightsticks. Activists fought back with chunks of concrete, bottles and burning banners.
A South Korean farmer climbed atop a fence and stabbed himself in the chest with a knife in what friends called a ceremonial act. Kung Hae Lee died later in surgery, government officials said.
"He believes if the negotiations go through at the WTO, it will be the death of the Korean farmer," said colleague Jung Kwang Hoon of the Korean People's Solidarity movement.
Several other protesters were injured by police and at least four were treated at hospital. Police said one of their officers also suffered minor injuries.
Protesters have been a force at every major WTO meeting since 1999, when street riots disrupted talks in Seattle. Activists, who include farmers, union leaders and students, argue free-trade rules benefit big business at the expense of the poor and the environment.
Opposition to the WTO's work also came from world leaders. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, in a statement read to the delegates, criticized wealthy countries for imposing what he described as an unfair trading system on the rest of the world.
"We are told that free trade brings opportunity for all people, not just a fortunate few," he said.
"Sadly, the reality of the international trading system today does not match the rhetoric."
Wednesday evening, ministers were to debate a proposal by four African countries that wealthy countries stop subsidizing their cotton farmers. Ministers from Burkina Faso, Benin, Mali and Chad said they can produce cotton more cheaply than rich countries but they argue they can't sell it because of artificially low prices for U.S., Chinese and European cotton.
The meeting was an extension of talks begun nearly two years ago in Doha, Qatar. Delegates have already missed several important deadlines and members have expressed concern they may not finish by the end of next year, their self-imposed deadline.
"We should learn from the past and face the reality that we cannot keep postponing decisions, even if they are sometimes difficult," Supachai said.
"There comes a time that rhetoric has to be backed by action."
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