FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
One year on from the inconclusive World Trade Organisation (WTO) Ministerial in Hong Kong, negotiators have failed to
make progress on agreeing trade reforms to promote development, and pressure on poor countries is building, said
international agency Oxfam.
Despite stating their continued commitment to multilateral negotiations, the EU and US have not significantly improved
their offers made in Hong Kong. Instead, both have shifted focus to an aggressive regional and bilateral agenda,
increasing pressure on developing countries to open their markets, while zealously guarding their agricultural subsidy
budgets and tariff protections.
Celine Charveriat, Head of Oxfam International's Make Trade Fair Campaign said: "Progress is elusive because neither of
the major powers have shown the willingness to fundamentally change their offers. A development deal, so desperately
needed, still seems a long way off."
Oxfam said that trade talks should restart again in earnest, but only if members agreed to re-focus on the original
mandate, which was to prioritise reforms that promote development. Poor countries should not be rushed into a bad deal
to meet artificial deadlines, such as the expiry of the US Trade Promotion Authority: "Negotiations need to be
reoriented to deal with developing countries' priorities and respect their legitimate concerns. The worst result would
be a deal pushed through to meet deadlines that entailed damaging sacrifices from poor countries," said Charveriat.
In recent months, the US has put pressure on a group of developing countries, known as the G33, which seeks the
flexibility to use trade policy to promote food security and rural livelihoods. The US has focused on gaining access to
India's market for four commodities – rice, corn, wheat and soybeans – all highly subsidised in the US, and important
for poor farmers in India.
Oxfam said the US should reduce this pressure and signal its willingness to negotiate by agreeing to reform
trade-distorting subsidies in the Farm Bill, due to be revised in 2007. Charveriat: "The 2002 Farm Bill has a been a
major problem for the trade negotiations. The US Congress could help unblock trade talks by agreeing a pro-development
reform of the Farm Bill next year."
Meanwhile, Oxfam called on Europe to improve its offer at the WTO on agricultural market access, especially for products
of interest to developing countries, and reduce its aggressive, anti-development demands in regional trade negotiations,
particularly with the African Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries.
This has been exposed in a recent report by Oxfam International, Slamming the Door: Analysis of the EU's Response to the
Pacific's EPA Negotiating Proposals.
"It is particularly hypocritical of the EU to be aggressively pushing Pacific countries to liberalise their economies
while the EU refuses to undergo long overdue reform of its own agricultural trade."
Barry Coates, Executive Director of Oxfam New Zealand
In the absence of significant progress towards a new WTO deal, rich countries should act immediately to help developing
countries benefit more from trade by agreeing a substantial aid for trade package and offering full duty and quota free
access for the poorest countries to all developed country markets.
Charveriat: "If Brazil can offer duty free access to the poorest countries, as it confirmed it would last week, then why
can't the US and Japan? Poor countries must not be made to pay for the delays in this round, which are due entirely to
rich country intransigence."
Oxfam affirmed that the WTO was still the best forum to negotiate trade reform but insisted that all members must
respect the mandate and commit to a transparent and inclusive process.
ENDS