A group of poorer countries sub-mitted their own proposal for a global agricultural trade treaty Wednesday, demanding wealthy countries do more to help less-affluent nations.
The proposal from Brazil, India, China and 13 other countries calls on the WTO to force rich countries to make big cuts to import duties and farm subsidies while making much smaller demands on poorer nations.
Wednesday's document is in reaction to a joint proposal put forward last week by the US and the EU which called for big cuts in duties but stopped short of agreeing to complete elimination of export subsidies -- a key demand of developing countries.
Negotiators are trying to reach consensus on a blueprint for negotiations in agriculture and other areas of trade before a meeting of ministers from all 146 WTO members in Cancun, Mexico, starting Sept. 10.
The proposal offered Wednesday demands elimination of export subsidies and major cuts in other sorts of subsidies, but gives a great deal of leeway to developing countries. In the crucial area of cuts to import tariffs, it calls for rich nations to make much more substantial cuts than poor ones.
The proposal was signed by 16 countries -- Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, India, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, South Africa and Thailand.
EU senior negotiator Peter Carl was unimpressed.
"It is a repetition of well-known positions that we have heard for the past three years. There is nothing new in it," he told reporters.
US agriculture negotiator Allen Johnson was more measured, but said that at first sight "it is hard to see that there is the level of ambition in all three [areas] and that everyone would be contributing to the reform process."
Many of the countries that signed the document are members of the Cairns Group of 17 agricultural exporters, but developed countries that belong to the group -- Australia, New Zealand and Canada -- are not on the list.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique