What's kicking at the WTO?

By Alex Singleton | 13 December 2005

The World Trade Organisation ministerial meeting opened today in Hong Kong. Pascal Lamy, Director-General of the World Trade Organisation, has been using a popular China proverb to highlight what's happening: "If you do not go into the cave of the tiger, how will you get its cub? In other words: nothing ventured, nothing gained."

This is the real crux of the WTO talks. America has put a good offer on the table, while we in Europe have failed to offer anything. As I say in a letter published in today's Guardian, Europe's "proposals to cut tariffs and trade-distorting subsidies are meaningless spin".

Alan Johnson, Britain's Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, was on the TV on Sunday saying that the WTO is a negotiation and that Mandelson will be playing his cards close to his chest. But unless Mandelson has the magic "we'll liberalise agriculture" card up his sleeve, there's not going to be much success.

The AFX newswire reports that John Tsang, who is chairing the WTO meeting, "has warned that unless 'substantial agreements' are reached on thorny issues, including sought-after substantial cuts in subsidies and other state support by developed countries to their agricultural sectors, the WTO will fail to conclude ongoing negotiations by the end-2006 target date."

Meanwhile Kofi Annan told the ministers representing the 149 countries at the WTO that they must make real progress delivering free trade or they will disappoint those people in the developing countries who just "yearn to lift themselves out of poverty".