The EU and a coalition of developing nations, which clashed recently over contentious farm subsidies, issued a surprise joint statement in Brazil on Friday calling for a speedy resumption of global trade talks.
Officials of 19 of the 20 nations of the so-called G20 coalition, including Brazil, China, India and South Africa, and EU negotiators were wrapping up a two-day summit here Friday ahead of a key WTO meeting in Geneva next week.
The WTO has set a December 15 deadline to relaunch global trade talks that collapsed in Cancun, Mexico, in September amid deep rifts between rich and poor nations.
One factor in that collapse was the emergence of the G20 coalition, which demanded curbs on farm subsidies in exchange for a broader agreement on free trade rules. The G20 countries are all WTO members.
However, Friday's joint communique appeared to signal that the rift has been eased, and that the trade rivals are ready for a fresh round of talks.
"The dialogue proved to be fruitful and positive with both sides explaining their own positions in a business-like manner and acknowledging the importance of this dialogue to achieve progress in the negotiations," the two blocs said in a joint communique.
The statement said there was "general agreement that we need to intensify negotiations early next year" with a view to finalising the Doha round of trade talks by a 2004 WTO deadline.
Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorin said the statement underlined "the preference for negotiation between the two blocs."
EU Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy, who prior to the communique's release had also struck an upbeat tone, expressed satisfaction with the talks.
"The impression is that the G20 wants to be a force for movement and it is a positive developement," he told reporters.
However, the EU trade commissioner conceded tough negotiations remained, saying, "Discussions were frank open and rather precise, even if the purpose of the meeting was not to negociate."
"The impression I had is that we [the EU and G20] not only want to pursue negociations but also to show some flexibility. If we start where we were [after Cancun] we will not succeed," Lamy said.
He said tough negotiations on market access, domestic support for agriculture and exports now lay ahead.
The EU and the G20 stressed they should "move as quickly as possible into an increased dialogue among all partners to achieve real and substantive progress in line with the Doha mandate and the timeframe defined therein," the statement said.
"The G20 reiterated its disposition to contribute to the success of negotiations and to move into a negotiation mode early next year," it added.
WTO director-general Supachai Panitchpakdi, who also attended the meetings here, said the talks had been "very useful."
"This meeting was indeed a very useful one. I've been encouraged by open and frank discussions," the WTO chief said.
"I hope we'll see more of those disciussions in Geneva and other places once we move back to our negociation process," Panitchpakdi said.
Both blocs agreed to continue pursuing their negotiations after the Brasilia meetings through their Geneva delegations, and at a ministerial level to achieve "a successful and timely completion of the Doha round."
Despite the optimism, some delegates said problems remained outside of the EU, G20 blocs, particularly with the US.
"It's known that the US also poses a problem," French foreign trade minister Francois Loos said.
Loos pointed out that Brazil exports 40 percent of its farm products to Europe and only 10 percent to the US.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva also raised the idea of a G20 free trade zone. That was not included in the communique, but Lamy called it an interesting notion.
Vincent Wei led fellow Singaporean farmers around an empty Malaysian plot, laying out plans for a greenhouse and rows of leafy vegetables. What he pitched was not just space for crops, but a lifeline for growers struggling to make ends meet in a city-state with high prices and little vacant land. The future agriculture hub is part of a joint special economic zone launched last year by the two neighbors, expected to cost US$123 million and produce 10,000 tonnes of fresh produce annually. It is attracting Singaporean farmers with promises of cheaper land, labor and energy just over the border.
US actor Matthew McConaughey has filed recordings of his image and voice with US patent authorities to protect them from unauthorized usage by artificial intelligence (AI) platforms, a representative said earlier this week. Several video clips and audio recordings were registered by the commercial arm of the Just Keep Livin’ Foundation, a non-profit created by the Oscar-winning actor and his wife, Camila, according to the US Patent and Trademark Office database. Many artists are increasingly concerned about the uncontrolled use of their image via generative AI since the rollout of ChatGPT and other AI-powered tools. Several US states have adopted
KEEPING UP: The acquisition of a cleanroom in Taiwan would enable Micron to increase production in a market where demand continues to outpace supply, a Micron official said Micron Technology Inc has signed a letter of intent to buy a fabrication site in Taiwan from Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (力積電) for US$1.8 billion to expand its production of memory chips. Micron would take control of the P5 site in Miaoli County’s Tongluo Township (銅鑼) and plans to ramp up DRAM production in phases after the transaction closes in the second quarter, the company said in a statement on Saturday. The acquisition includes an existing 12 inch fab cleanroom of 27,871m2 and would further position Micron to address growing global demand for memory solutions, the company said. Micron expects the transaction to
A proposed billionaires’ tax in California has ignited a political uproar in Silicon Valley, with tech titans threatening to leave the state while California Governor Gavin Newsom of the Democratic Party maneuvers to defeat a levy that he fears would lead to an exodus of wealth. A technology mecca, California has more billionaires than any other US state — a few hundred, by some estimates. About half its personal income tax revenue, a financial backbone in the nearly US$350 billion budget, comes from the top 1 percent of earners. A large healthcare union is attempting to place a proposal before
RSS