WTO MEETING

By Petchanet Pratruangkrai
Published on May 27, 2008

Developing nations can cut gap

The World Trade Organisation's 30-member ministerial meeting in Geneva next month will unlock the prolonged Doha Round as the European Union and the United States are inclined to agree on the text to cut domestic subsidies to boost international trade, Trade Negotiations Department director-general Chutima Bunyapraphasara said yesterday.

Chutima said success should pave the way for the WTO Ministerial Conference by the year's end, bridging the gap between developing and developed nations.

The WTO Ministerial Conference has been suspended since the Hong Kong meeting in 2005 because opposing interests - mainly in the farming sector - failed to narrow their differences.

WTO director-general Pascal Lamy has the good intention to wrap up the world's largest trade agreement, covering 152 countries, said Chutima, adding that the pact will stimulate trade growth significantly.

If successful, developing nations, including Thailand, should obtain high benefits from this achievement, she said.

Among products to benefit are farm goods, fishery products, textiles and garments.

Under the Doha agreement, the US and the EU will be obliged to decrease their agricultural subsidies by 54 per cent on average, as well as bring down domestic subsidies by 60 per cent. Other countries will have to cut their export subsidies by 2013.

Besides farm products, nations will be obliged to cut import tariffs for industrial goods for WTO members. For instance, the US and the EU must decrease their import tariffs from 4 per cent to 2 per cent, Japan from 3.9 to 1.9 per cent, China from 9 to 6.6 per cent, Brazil from 29.3 to 14.3 per cent, and India from 46.6 to 18.6 per cent.

By The Nation On 27 May 2008

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