Geneva

Hopes high for Geneva world trade talks

Article published on the 2008-07-21 Latest update 2008-07-25 19:03 TU

Europe's trade commissioner Peter Mandelson.
(Photo : AFP)

Negotiators from more than 30 countries are set to meet in Geneva to continue long-running efforts to agree a global trade deal. Discussions have so far stalled over the issue of farm subsidies and how far trade in services such as banking should be liberalised.

Officials from the United States, European Union and emerging economic powers such as China, India and Brazil are under pressure to try and reach agreement before the end of the year.

World Trade Organisation ministers will try to establish a deal based on trade-opening measures under the Doha Development Agenda, launched in the Qatari capital in November 2001.

Keith Rockwell is spokesman for the World Trade Organisation. He says the organisation will deal with the tariffs and subsidies issue that is at the heart of tensions between North and South. 

"It is the end game, if we cannot reach agreement by the end of this month on these two areas I've mention, it seems clear that we will have difficulty for some time to come," he told RFI. 

 

Amy Berry, Trade Advisor to the NGO Oxfam in Geneva, said that using this meeting as a "last chance" could hurt the poorest countries in the long run.

"I would be a little bit wary of the 'last chance, last opportunity' rhetoric if its used as a way to push something through, that ultimately, and based on our most recent analysis, is not going to be in the interests of  many developing countries," she said.

Supporters of the talks say a deal could boost the world economy by up to $100bn a year.

But critics say any agreement is unlikely to fully address inequalities in trading relationships between the richest and poorest countries.

A WTO agreement has been hindered by differences between EU chief trade negotiator Peter Mandelson and French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who sees Mandelson as a "neoliberal" prepared to sacrifice France's hefty agricultural sector for the sake of a deal.