WTO releases revised drafts for farm and non-farm trade talks

The World Trade Organisation (WTO) has circulated revised drafts for cutting tariffs and trade-distorting agricultural subsidies for final negotiations.
 
The two documents are revisions of drafts previously circulated in July 2007, and May, February and July 2008.

''The latest drafts also try to capture agreement reached tentatively on some subjects when a group of ministers came to Geneva in July 2008 and tried but failed to reach agreement on these issues,'' the WTO said in a release.

The texts were finalised by agriculture group led by Crawford Falconer and non-agricultural market access (NAMA) group led by chairperson Luzius Wasescha.

''The papers are the chairs' assessment of what might be agreed for the formulas for cutting tariffs and trade-distorting agricultural subsidies, and related provisions. After these ''modalities'' have been agreed, members will apply the formulas to their tariffs and agricultural subsidies.''

The revised proposals put the toughest conditions on Japan in the free trade talks.

The new negotiating texts, issued on Saturday will serve as the basis for a possible meeting of ministers from major trading powers later this week in Geneva.

Trade chiefs are preparing to make another attempt to reach a breakthrough in the Doha Round of trade talks following recent calls from world leaders to do so as a way to bolster confidence in the world economy, badly battered by the recent financial turbulence.

"With these revised texts, we are closer to our goal of clinching modalities in agriculture and industry, a stepping stone towards the conclusion of the Doha Round," WTO director general Pascal Lamy said in a statement.

For Japan, the biggest concern in the talks is how to adequately protect its politically sensitive farm products, including rice, sugar and wheat, from imports.

Under the revised text for farm negotiations, developed countries are basically allowed to designate up to four per cent of products as "sensitive" to protect them from steep tariff cuts.

Japan has sought at least eight per cent of all farm products to be treated as such. The text still allows developed countries to designate an additional two per cent as sensitive agricultural products under certain conditions. But it suggested that raising the ceiling to more than six per cent is unlikely.