For global negotiators, it seems that every time they take a step toward a trade liberalization treaty, it moves one step further away. If they can't catch up this week, they know it will be out of reach for months or even years.
Government ministers from around the globe gather this week at the WTO in Geneva for a last-gasp attempt to agree on the framework of the treaty that they hope will give a massive boost to the world economy.
However, they face huge differences of opinion -- especially in the key area of agriculture, where rich and poor nations want different actions and exporters and importers have conflicting priorities.
"At a time when protectionist pressures lie just below the surface, when people across the world [demand change] ... the WTO must deliver," said WTO Director-General Supachai Panitchpakdi.
Negotiators are meeting privately night and day to try to reach an agreement before Saturday's deadline. Formal meetings start today.
The framework should have been completed last September at a ministerial meeting in Cancun, Mexico, which collapsed without agreement. Negotiators then planned to do it by Christmas -- but that deadline came and went.
If they don't manage it by the end of this month, they know that the US presidential elections and government changes in other countries will leave them paralyzed until at least next year.
The framework will form the structure of continued negotiations in the current round of trade talks. Though it is only part of the process, many believe this agreement is the crucial one, and that the rest of the talks will be much smoother.
Along with Shotaro Oshima -- the Japanese ambassador who heads the WTO's ruling General Council -- Supachai on July 16 produced a 15-page proposal on the structure of a future treaty.
On the key issue of agriculture, the document sets out a system that would ensure that high import tariffs are cut by a larger percentage than are low ones -- a key demand of many agricultural exporters.
However, it also leaves room for nations to make smaller cuts on products they consider sensitive -- often, products that are important in their domestic farming industry.
The document is short on details, saying simply that the exact formula to be used "remains under negotiation." Governments have failed to agree on that, despite months of negotiation.
The proposal says all agricultural export subsidies will be eliminated by a date "to be agreed" -- a concession made by the EU, which had originally refused to accept total elimination of the payments.
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)
RESTAURANT POISONING? Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang at a press conference last night said this was the first time bongkrekic acid was detected in Taiwan An autopsy discovered bongkrekic acid in a specimen collected from a person who died from food poisoning after dining at the Malaysian restaurant chain Polam Kopitiam, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said at a news conference last night. It was the first time bongkrekic acid was detected in Taiwan, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝) said. The testing conducted by forensic specialists at National Taiwan University was facilitated after a hospital voluntarily offered standard samples it had in stock that are required to test for bongkrekic acid, he said. Wang told the news conference that testing would continue despite