Ministers to renew attempt to unlock global trade talks

Ministers from 28 countries are due to meet in Paris Friday to try to unlock troubled global trade liberalisation talks, days after the European Union offered to eliminate aid for agricultural exports, a key obstacle in the WTO negotiations.
The gathering on the sidelines of an annual meeting of the Paris-based Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is widely regarded as a last chance to set the free trade effort back on track by a self-imposed end July deadline.
"There will be no other opportunity for ministers to meet and we don't have much time," said Eduardo Perez-Motta, Mexico's ambassador to the Geneva-based World Trade Organisation.
The Paris meeting on the deadlocked Doha round, which was launched in Qatar in 2001, is expected to focus on agricultural trade, one of the most controversial issues which pits rich countries against poor ones.
Mexico has organised the meeting in Paris, which is due to bring together 28 trade ministers out of the 147 WTO member states, including the key trading powers.
The European Union's ambassador at the WTO underlined that the ministers would not have to examine detailed issues in their four hour encounter.
"What we are waiting for is a strong signal to conclude discussions on the modalities of the negotiations before the end of July," Carlo Trojan said.
Progress in Paris would allow trade negotiators to broach technical details during a regular WTO meeting next week, and start to shape the outline of an agreement.
Dipomats hope an agreement by the end of July on the "modalities" - the broad framework - of the final burst of negotiations could allow them to rescue a new round by the end 2004 deadline for an agreement.
On Monday, the EU tried to inject some momentum into the stuttering process by responding to one of the most pressing demands of developing countries and offering to eliminate farm export subsidies under certain conditions.
The move was welcomed by Mexico, one of the countries at the heart of the G20 group developing countries which want to see agricultural subsidies dropped.
Other farm support issues are also in play, including outstanding disagreements between the G20 and the US and EU over a new formula to lower customs duties.