In The Media ⁽⁴⁰⁰⁾

Contrary to the doom and gloom scenarios advanced by many, the WTO ministerial conference at Hong Kong concluded successfully on December 18, 2005, making significant progress towards completing the Doha Round. True, the conference did not produce dramatic results. But that was just as some among us had predicted: with the final round of negotiations still a year away, few accomplished negotiators could be expected to put their best offers on the table.Kamal Nath may take the lead and call a mini-ministerial conference to complete the modalities of negotiations. Read full article Contrary to the doom and gloom scenarios advanced by many, the WTO ministerial conference at Hong Kong concluded successfully on December 18, 2005, making significant progress towards completing the Doha Round. True, the conference did not produce dramatic results. But that was just as some among us had predicted: with the final round of negotiations still a year away, few accomplished negotiators could be expected to put their best offers on the table

This story features my analysis of the agricultural subsidies in the rich countries and their impact on the poor countries. Read full article By EDUARDO PORTER (NY Times) Abstract: BY now, it's almost a truism: the protectionist agricultural farm policies of the big, rich nations -- mainly the European Union, the United States and Japan -- are essentially barring poor countries from development. That belief is what led to much of the bickering last week between trade ministers from rich and poor countries at the World Trade Organization meeting in Hong Kong. Many development advocates argued that subsidies and tariff protections for farmers in industrialized countries lock poor farmers out of the rich world market. "High tariffs keep them out of key markets, and tariffs and subsidies together drive down the world price of their exports," wrote Paul Wolfowitz, the head of the World Bank, in a recent opinion article in The Los Angeles Times. "Without the income that trade could provide, it is their children who go hungry and who are deprived of clean water, medicines and other basic…

The assertion that the removal of agricultural subsidies by rich countries would benefit the LDCs is false. And telling the rich nations that their policies hurt the LDCs would not produce the desired outcome.Economic Times November 30, 2005. As the sixth WTO ministerial conference to be held in Hong Kong during December 13-17, 2005 approaches, the European Union (EU), the US and the group of 20 mainly larger developing countries are deadlocked over the Doha negotiations on agriculture Breaking the deadlock requires dispelling several myths spread by the press, international institutions and non-governmental organisations. Among the myths are: rich countries annually spend hundreds of billions of dollars on trade-distorting subsidies; agricultural protectionism is largely a rich country phenomenon; and the least developed countries (LDCs) are the worst victims of these subsidies and protection. Twice recently the New York Times has editorialised that “developed world funnels nearly $1 billion a day in subsidies,” which “encourages overproduction” and drives down prices. The World Bank president Paul Wolfowitz similarly referred to developed countries expending “$280 billion on support to agricultural producers” in a recent…

Trade talks at Cancun broke down principally because the G-20 group of mainly larger developing countries rejected U.S. and EU offers on reducing their agricultural protection. Two years later, as the Hong Kong Ministerial approaches, agriculture remains the make-or-break issue in the Doha negotiations. But the impasse can be broken. Read full article Abstract: Trade talks at Cancun broke down principally because the G-20 group of mainly larger developing countries rejected U.S. and EU offers on reducing their agricultural protection. Two years later, as the Hong Kong Ministerial approaches, agriculture remains the make-or-break issue in the Doha negotiations. But the impasse can be broken once we clear up the misinformation on (a) the magnitude of EU and U.S. subsidies and (b) the level of protection through trade barriers in developed and developing countries in agriculture. The New York Times has editorialized that the "developed world funnels nearly $1 billion a day in subsidies," which "encourages overproduction" and drives down prices. The World Bank's president, Paul Wolfowitz, similarly referred to developed countries expending "$280 billion on support to agricultural producers" in…

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