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Strategies & Market Trends : 2026 TeoTwawKi ... 2032 Darkest Interregnum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Canuck Dave who wrote (58570)	12/3/2009 12:50:28 AM
From: elmatador	Respond to of 220341

Without China, a combined population of 2.6bn and account for nearly half of all developing-country trade last year. agreed to slice industrial tariffs by at least a fifth on a minimum of 70 per cent of export products. Poorer nations sign deal on trade tariff cuts By Frances Williams in Geneva Published: December 3 2009 02:00 \| Last updated: December 3 2009 02:00 More than 20 emerging economies - including Brazil, Egypt, India and South Korea - yesterday signed a tariff-cutting deal between themselves that served to underscore mounting frustration among poorer nations with the lack of progress in broader global trade talks. The accord, signed on the final day of a three-day ministerial meeting of the World Trade Organisation in Geneva, is far less ambitious and comprehensive than the reductions in industrial tariffs envisaged in the stalled Doha round launched in 2001. But Jorge Taiana, Argentina's minister of foreign affairs and international trade, who chaired the UN-sponsored negotiations on the agreement, said it demonstrated the willingness of developing countries to liberalise trade. The Doha impasse "is not a problem from our side", he said. Discussions on how to break the Doha deadlock on the sidelines of the formal WTO meeting, the first full ministerial in four years, appear to have made little progress, reinforcing concern that the 2010 target set by world leaders for concluding the round is slipping out of reach. One consequence has been an acceleration of bilateral and regional trade deals. This week saw the launch of feasibility studies on preferential trade agreements between China and Switzerland, and between India, the Mercosur group of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay, and the Southern African Customs Union. More serious consideration is also being given to the possibility of splitting off less contentious parts of the Doha round, such as fishing subsidies and customs procedures, for separate agreements. The poorest nations want an "early harvest" on unrestricted access to richcountry markets as well as the elimination of cotton subsidies. The UK is calling for voluntary tariff cuts on "green goods", such as wind turbine parts, that are also part of the Doha talks. Most of the blame for the Doha delay is being heaped on the US, which says the deal on the table does not provide enough "meaningful" new export opportunities for American farmers and corporations, especially in economies such as China, Brazil and India. These countries argue that they should not have to pay more for the righting of distortions and inequities that have penalised the developing world in the past. Most other WTO members say there is already a good basis for accord. "We have enough substance to be able to conclude a deal," Rachid Mohamed Rachid, trade minister of Egypt, which co-ordinates the African group in the WTO, told the Financial Times. The 22 signatories of the tariff-cutting pact, which do not include China, have a combined population of 2.6bn and account for nearly half of all developing-country trade last year. They have agreed to slice industrial tariffs by at least a fifth on a minimum of 70 per cent of export products. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2009. You may share using our article tools. Please don't cut articles from FT.com and redistribute by email or post to the web.