12/20/05 Was anything gained from Hong Kong?

12/20/05 Was anything gained from Hong Kong?

Expectations for the recently concluded Hong Kong ministerial of the World Trade Organization trade reforms were low going into negotiations. And if you asked just about everyone who participated in Hong Kong, after the meetings concluded, those expectations may have even been lower than that. Whatever significant progress that could have been made in Hong Kong never materialized. Much of the blame from parties around the world fell on the European Union, as they were insistent that developing nations give more in service and manufacturing tariff reductions in return for lower tariffs on ag goods. U.S. ag officials were quick to note that they received little immediate benefit as a result of the Hong Kong ministerial. E.U. officials like Ag Commissioner Mariann Fischer-Boel however contend it was a positive event for her trading bloc. And at the end of the meetings, she couldn't resist taking a poke at the U.S., which offered significant subsidy cuts in return for increased market access, but only if the E.U. made a more significant effort to do the same. FISCHER-BOEL: I am quite sure that the decisions that we have made will mean that the United States will really have to cut on their domestic support. I'm quite sure as well that this will finally mean that we can see the inference on the world market prices. And it was what little decisions that were agreed upon by all W.T.O. member nations that will allow the Doha round of trade reform negotiations to continue into 2006. The lone bright spot was an agreement to end all export subsidies by the year 2013. W.T.O. Director General Pascal Lamy said prior to Hong Kong, the Doha round was about fifty per cent complete. LAMY: The next step over is April next year where we have to put all the figures and numbers to the formulas that have been agreed, and that should take us sort of two-thirds of the way. And others such as American Farm Bureau Federation President Bob Stallman said, hey, it's better than nothing. STALLMAN: I certainly wouldn't call it an overwhelming success but it is more of a success than Cancun because people are still negotiating. Negotiations haven't broken down. It is still a wait and see approach on how the Hong Kong developments will affect U.S. agriculture long term, especially after our nation's negotiators promised both duty and quota free access for cotton from four West African nations, and similar access for all goods from all least developed nations. Among the few exceptions to this promise was increased access of foreign sugar.
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