World trade deal agreed Ministers from the world’s richest and poorest countries struck an eleventh.

World trade deal agreed

 Ministers from the world’s richest and poorest countries
struck an eleventh hour deal in August 2004 to boost trade by cutting farm
subsidies and import tariffs worldwide. After five days of intense negotiation,
the World Trade Organisation agreed to an interim text and set a deadline of
December 2005 to hammer out a new global deal. The deal was hailed as
‘historic’ by the WTO and the main wealthy nations but fiercely attacked by
activist groups who condemned it as a ‘catastrophe for the poor’. The deal
strikes a compromise between cuts in subsidies for
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World trade deal agreed

 Ministers from the world’s richest and poorest countries
struck an eleventh hour deal in August 2004 to boost trade by cutting farm
subsidies and import tariffs worldwide. After five days of intense negotiation,
the World Trade Organisation agreed to an interim text and set a deadline of
December 2005 to hammer out a new global deal. The deal was hailed as
‘historic’ by the WTO and the main wealthy nations but fiercely attacked by
activist groups who condemned it as a ‘catastrophe for the poor’. The deal
strikes a compromise between cuts in subsidies for farmers in rich nations and
an agreement by poorer countries to open up their markets by cutting tariffs.
Under the agreement, key WTO members, including the US, the EU, Brazil and
Japan, have agreed to the eventual elimination of export subsidies. Wealthy
nations currently spend about $370 billion (£203 billion) a year on all forms
of farm support. African and Latin American countries say this enables wealthy
farmers to ‘dump’ cheap produce on their markets, annihilating their domestic
farming industries. The deal includes a ‘down payment’ that would see an
immediate 20% cut in the maximum permitted payments of subsidies by rich
nations. West African nations dropped a demand that the US’s $3 billion (£1.65
billion) a year subsidies to its cotton farmers be treated as a separate issue.
Rich countries also agreed to cut tariffs on farm imports that make it tough
for poorer countries to compete. The highest agricultural import tariffs will
face the biggest cuts, although no figures have yet been agreed. Nations will
have the right to keep higher tariffs on some of the products they consider
most important. The deal on farming cleared the way for accords on access to
markets for industrial goods and services, such as banking, water and
telecommunications. The hard-won deal put back on track the negotiations that
were launched at Doha, Qatar, in November 2001, but collapsed at a summit in
Cancun, Mexico in 2003.

The main points

 _ All 147 members of the World Trade Organisation
have agreed on the basis for talks on a trade deal, but still have months of
hard negotiations ahead.

_ Rich countries have agreed to eliminate all forms of
export farm subsidies but can keep some of their domestic support.

 _ The deal includes a ‘down payment’ that would see
an immediate 20% cut in the maximum permitted subsidy payments by rich nations.

 _ Europe’s multibillion-pound sugar industry is still
outside the negotiations.

_ West African states failed in their attempt to open
separate negotiations over the US’s $3 billion (£1.65 billion) of subsidies for
its cotton-growers.

 _ Poorer countries will have to cut import barriers
under which the highest get cut the most.

 _ Developing countries have to negotiate on rules to
make customs procedures easier and less expensive for business.

Question

 Why do some see the deal as historic and others as a missed
opportunity?

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