Pretoria - A number of trade ministers are to make a last-ditch bid to resolve deadlocks on trade liberalisation before the September meeting of the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
"A mini-meeting of trade ministers of like-minded countries is planned to identify issues that could be resolved," deputy trade and industry minister Lindiwe Hendricks said on Monday.
The fifth full ministerial meeting of the WTO is to be held in Cancun, Mexico.
"There is a feeling that Cancun will be a dismal failure unless something happens before that," Hendricks told reporters in Pretoria.
She declined to name the countries that will take part the pre-WTO meeting.
The Cancun conference follows a similar one in November 2001 in the Qatari capital Doha, which saw the launch of trade liberalisation talks with a three-year deadline.
Cancun is to serve as a mid-term review of progress achieved.
WTO members - negotiating in Geneva, Switzerland - have already missed several intermediate deadlines on key issues, such as agriculture and cheaper medicines for poor countries.
Southern African Development Community trade ministers met in Lusaka, Zambia, on Saturday to discuss the matter.
Hendricks, who attended, said the meeting resolved that the region should come out strongly on public health issues.
In Doha, WTO ministers agreed that poor countries grappling with diseases such as HIV/Aids could begin the domestic production of medicines patented by western companies.
But this left the problem of poorer states without the capacity to produce drugs.
Hendricks said the United States was the only country opposed to the idea of allowing poor nations to import cheap medicines.
The US is blocking a draft settlement on grounds that the wording could be read to include medicines for non-infectious diseases such as obesity and impotence.
Hendricks said tuberculosis, malaria and HIV/Aids were major issues in the region.
"The ability of our countries to take actions that will allow for easier access to medicine to combat these diseases affects us significantly," she said.
"It was therefore agreed that we need to come out strongly on these issues so that agreement is reached before Cancun."
At this stage, Hendricks said SADC members were also concerned about agricultural subsidies and tariffs.
"To date, there has been no agreement reached in Geneva."
The 145 members of the WTO have widely different views on the pace and extent of agricultural reform, especially concerning subsidies and tariffs.
Agricultural products subsidised by the West drive down prices to the detriment of poor countries that depend on agricultural exports.
Agricultural exports from developing countries also have to contend with tariffs imposed by the West.
Hendricks said developed nations should not be allowed to get away without making concessions.
She accused them of not coming up with honest proposals to reduce subsidies and tariffs.
"We feel as developing countries that we have done everything possible, including agreeing to a very broad-based agenda for these negotiations. We can't give more," Hendricks said.
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