WTO indaba will look into agricultural subsidies

Fifth conference next month Alan Peat THE NEXT meeting of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) Ð its 5th ministerial conference Ð is planned to take place at Cancœn, Mexico from September 14-19. According to a WTO release, the conference will again focus on efforts to reduce tariff and other barriers “in an effort to foster bi-lateral trade worldwide”. One part is a subject of great interest to third world countries Ð the agricultural subsidies in the US and the European Union (EU), which make lots of the agri-exports from developing countries completely uncompetitive on price. The problems engendered by these agricultural subsidies are one area of the talks highlighted by the WTO and have just been preceded by hints from both Europe and the US that their subsidy systems are to be “reconsidered” before the Cancun meeting. The other bone of contention that the WTO is to study is that of “peak” tariff practices where rates progressively increase for processed or finished products. This, in turn, tends to make processing and job creation at source uneconomic. These two contentious issues have led opponents of the WTO to accuse its policies of helping to entrench third world poverty by unfairly favouring developed countries. The Mexico indaba is also expected to make a decision on electronic commerce. At present, WTO members have not been imposing any customs duties or interventions on imports by e-mail or Internet. This they undertook not to do until the outcome of the Cancœn conference.