Developing countries will be seeking a better deal for their farmers when ministers from the WTO's 146 member countries gather in Cancun, Mexico, from Sept. 10.
Buoyed by the success of Saturday's deal on patent rules and cheap medicines, they are determined not to let richer countries off the hook over promises made at the launch of the latest global-free-trade talks in 2001 to put development issues at the heart of the negotiations.
Developing countries account for about two-thirds of the WTO's membership, and have already shown they can be a force to be reckoned with if they act collectively.
"We need to see export subsidies phased out because they distort not just the international market but also our domestic markets," said Kenya's Ambassador Amina Chawahir Mohamed.
Ministers agreed in Doha on "reductions of, with a view to phasing out, all forms of export subsidies" in agriculture, but progress on the negotiations has since been slow and problematic.
Developing countries also want cuts in domestic support to farmers and better access to agricultural markets in the developed world.
Entrenched positions have meant that a draft declaration prepared for the Sept. 10 to 14 Cancun ministerial gathering is so far devoid of figures on exactly how much farm subsidies and tariffs should be reduced, and when.
The Mexico meeting has been called to take stock of the overall round of Doha talks that aim to tear down more barriers to global trade, with an accord scheduled by Jan. 1, 2005.
Developing countries argue that the more than US$300 billion spent each year by industrialized countries to help their domestic food producers prevents them competing on developed markets, but also on their home market.
"For us to have sustainable food security we have to be able to produce. The dumping of uncompetitive, subsidized agricultural produce has stolen our incentive to produce by denying us access to markets," Mohamed said.
Subsidies paid by Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries per capita for cows and cotton bolls are "considerably higher" than OECD per capita aid for sub-Saharan Africa, according to the UN Development Programme's Human Development Report last year.
A proposal by four west and central African cotton-producing countries, led by Burkina Faso, for developed countries to drop cotton subsidies also features on the draft agenda for Cancun.
And developing countries are also resisting calls by richer countries for ambitious targets in opening up markets for industrial goods, stressing that for them tariffs are an important source of revenue and protection for their goods.
Kenya generates 16 percent of its overall income from import tariffs, even though the average tariff level is 1.6 percent, Mohamed said.
"We cannot take on any new commitments, in fact some of our tariffs are the lowest in the world, and we would like to see others, especially those in developed countries match our current level of commitment," she added.
International relief organization Oxfam has criticized the draft ministerial declaration for Cancun over its proposed targets and guidelines for cutting tariffs on industrial goods.
Developing countries would have to make deeper cuts than developed countries under the proposed formula, which, it also said, was contrary to the mandate agreed in Doha, Qatar.
Another area that is likely to produce clashes in Cancun between developing countries and richer ones is the issue of negotiations over new WTO rules on cross-border investment and competition policy.
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