Hundreds of millions of dollars is at stake for the New Zealand export industry in the latest attempt to hammer out a trade agreement in Geneva.
It is a continuation of the Doha round of World Trade Organisation talks that broke down two years ago and has been dragging on for seven years.
Trade minister Phil Goff wants the elimination of export subsidies that allows other countries - especially in Europe - to compete unfairly with New Zealand.
He says it is also about sharply reducing domestic support which benefits the big wealthy countries but not the efficient small producers like New Zealand.
Goff say they are trying to break down barriers to trade to assist exporters of goods and services to gain entry into both the developing and developed world.
The United States and European Union said they would open up their farm sectors to secure a new global trade deal, but have called on big emerging countries like Brazil, India and China to do their bit too.
As make-or-break trade talks got underway at the World Trade
Organisation, developing countries insisted that current proposals
for a deal in the long-running Doha round were still skewed in
favour of rich nations.
"We know we're going to need to make further contributions than the
many contributions we already have on the table. We are looking
forward to seeing the contributions of others, including these most
signficant emerging markets," US Trade Representative Susan Schwab
said.
WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy called ministers to Geneva this week to seek a breakthrough in the Doha round, launched in late 2001 to open up world trade and help poor countries grow by exporting more.
A deal would see the United States cut its farm subsidies that
poor countries say discourage their farmers from producing,
fuelling the current food crisis. The European Union would open its
protected market for food by lowering tariffs.
In return rich-country businesses would get more access to
developing-country markets for industrial goods and services.
Strong push
Lamy said an agreement this week would send a positive signal to
global financial markets rocked by the U.S. credit crisis and
rising food and energy prices.
He told delegates a deal "could in these circumstances provide a strong push to stimulate economic growth, providing better prospects for development and ensuring a stable and more predictable trading system," WTO spokesman Keith Rockwell said.
Monday's talks consisted of a general review of positions and did not get down to details in the core areas of agriculture and industrial goods, and the United States did not make a new offer on farm support, ministers said.
EU Agriculture Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel said the United
States was likely to name a figure on Tuesday.
"I'm sure it will come tomorrow... Otherwise, it will be difficult
to move a bit forward," she told reporters.
The latest negotiating draft sees the United States cutting its
most trade-distorting subsidies to $13-16.4 billion.
Indonesian Trade Minister Mari Pangestu said developing countries
had previously proposed a U.S. ceiling of $12 billion, below that
range and closer to current outlays of approximately $7 billion.
High prices have cut US farm programme spending dramatically in
recent years.
"We are looking for a concrete offer on the table ... We are
looking for U.S. leadership on this issue," Pangestu said.
Schwab said countries were showing a new willingness to discuss
what they could do rather than what they could not.
"When we... address the domestic support issue, it will address
our desire to invite others to also participate in a 'can do' type
of conversation, instead of a 'can't do' conversation," Schwab
said.
EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson said the bloc's offer on farm
tariff cuts could be deeper than the minimum proposed for rich
countries.
"We are in a position to raise our average from 54%, which is what developing countries asked for, to 60%," Mandelson told Reuters. "I am glad we've been able to do that. It shows our commitment to this round."
But officials said those figures included a not-yet-agreed deal
on tropical products, and denied the EU was improving its offer,
while EU and developing country ministers dismissed it.
India insisted that rich countries, who were seeking to shield
their farmers from the full impact of liberalisation, should
respect developing nations' calls for special treatment in
agriculture.
"We are therefore looking at a few million farms in developed
countries... versus hundreds of millions of subsistence farmers,"
Gopal Pillai, the top official in India's commerce ministry, told a
news conference. "We have not much room for compromise because it's
a livelihood concern, not preserving the prosperity of rich
farmers."
