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Rich-poor consensus on free trade pact unlikely

WTO meet begins today in Hong Kong

AP, HONG KONG
Trade negotiators gathered for World Trade Organisation talks in Hong Kong conceded yesterday that prospects for progress toward a global free trade treaty were bleak, with rich countries and the developing world still at an impasse over agriculture.
EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson bluntly said a breakthrough at the six-day meeting that starts today was "not possible," and that the 149 member countries should instead strive to make headway on formulas for cutting farm tariffs and subsidies, with the goal of drawing up an outline for a deal by the first quarter of 2006.
"There's simply too little on the table to negotiate about in Hong Kong," Mandelson told reporters. He said his objective for the six-day gathering was to "find the common ground on the building blocks" in key areas of agriculture, services and
manufacturing trade.
The meeting in Hong Kong, itself a citadel to free trade, was meant to wrap up the so-called "Doha round" of WTO negotiations.
But the talks have been stalemated for months, with developing countries saying that offers by the EU, U.S. and other rich countries to dismantle their trade barriers are inadequate.
A draft text for an agreement released by WTO chief Pascal Lamy disclosed wide differences between members across a wide array of sectors. "Now it is clear that unless a miracle occurs - and I'm not even sure what kind of miracle - we won't have a final deal ... in Hong Kong," Brazil's foreign minister, Celso Amorim, told reporters on Monday.
Amorim accused the wealthy industrialized nations of sacrificing the interests of 70 percent of the developing world - farmers barely getting by - for the sake of a tiny
segment of their own populations.
"Who are the farmers of France? It's the people who own little farms and make Camembert cheese or who sell Bordeaux," he said.
For poor countries in Asia, Latin America and Africa, selling exports of commodities like grain and sugar to the industrialized world are the key to economic growth and development.
Dashing hopes for concessions, Mandelson reiterated Monday that the EU would not move beyond the average 46 percent cut in farm tariffs it offered in October until other countries budge on reducing barriers on services and manufactured goods.
But he said he was receptive to counteroffers from developing countries, led by India and Brazil, on non-farm trade areas.
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Expectations for Hong Kong are so low there are worries the gathering could collapse like the previous one in Cancun, Mexico in 2003, or dissolve into chaos like the debacle in Seattle in 1999.
The WTO gatherings, normally held every other year, tend to be a flashpoint for violence, often when activists are confronted by riot police.
Two years ago, at the WTO summit in the Mexican resort town of Cancun, protesters cut through metal barricades, battled with police and threatened to storm the meeting hall. One Korean farmer stabbed himself to death.
At the summit in Seattle, five days of riots inflicted US$3 million in damage to the city. Police arrested 500 people.
Alarmed by the prospect of as many as 10,000 protesters on the streets, voicing opposition to the WTO and other symbols of globalization, Hong Kong authorities set up elaborate security precautions, blocking off access to roads near the conference site, setting up barricades, enclosing pedestrian walkways in nets, and even gluing bricks into the sidewalks to prevent protesters from pulling them up and throwing them.
South Korean activists, known for joining in fierce battles with riot police and for dramatic gestures including committing suicide to highlight their causes, warned they planned to escalate their protests as the WTO meeting progresses.
The Korean Struggle Mission, which represents several activist groups, warned in a statement that they were ready for "strong struggles." It gave no details about what the groups planned to do.