Nineteen leading agricultural exporting nations, including Australia, Brazil and South Africa, kicked off talks in Bali on Sunday aimed at pushing forward troubled world trade negotiations.
As well as seeking to move forward the stalled Doha trade round, the Cairns Group of nations - accounting for more than 25 percent of the world's agricultural exports - is also expected to take aim at US and European dairy export subsidies.
Despite the global economic crisis sharpening pressures for protectionism, there are also hopes political conditions for a world trade deal are improving. US Trade Representative Ron Kirk is due to attend the three-day meeting in the resort of Bali, as well as officials from the European Union and India. WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy is also scheduled to attend.
"We can't conclude (the Doha round) unless we have the combination of technical work being done to conclude the very difficult and outstanding issues and the political will to drive it," Australian Trade Minister Simon Crean told reporters.
"I hope this meeting ... will reinsert that political will," added Crean, who is chairing the meeting. The new Obama administration is conducting a review of US trade policy including efforts to reach a deal on Doha and some of America's trading partners have been impressed by Kirk's conciliatory style, though they are still waiting to see the substance.
According to a draft document obtained by Reuters, the talks would include "How can the Cairns Group best exert influence to reinvigorate the negotiations and finish the (Doha) Round."
The protection of farmers from price swings or market implosions, such as subsidies for agricultural products, has emerged as one of the trickiest topics in the Doha round.
The United States in May moved to subsidise some of its dairy exports, saying it was forced to respond to new European subsidies that have made it hard to compete in global markets depressed by the economic downturn.
Australia, a top dairy exporter, would continue to argue "very strongly" against the subsidies, Crean said. Indonesian Trade Minister Mari Pangestu said the Bali meeting would also discuss obstacles preventing the 153 World Trade Organisation members from wrapping up the Doha round.
"The Cairns Group wants to eliminate huge agricultural subsidies and export subsidies for agricultural products by developed countries which have distorted global trade and hurt poor farmers in many developing countries," Pangestu told reporters late on Friday.
Trade ministers came close in July 2008 to a deal on the Doha talks, launched in the Qatari capital in late 2001 to help poor countries prosper through trade. But that meeting collapsed over differences between Washington and big emerging countries such as India and China over a proposed safeguard to help farmers in poor countries withstand surges in imports.
A critical factor to moving trade talks forward could be an expected meeting on the sidelines of the talks between US trade representative Kirk and India's new trade minister, Anand Sharma.
When asked whether such a bilateral meeting could help progress, Crean said: "I think so. I think that, always with these difficult outstanding issues, it's the face-to-face engagement that matters." The Cairns Group consists of Argentina, Australia, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Pakistan, Paraguay, Peru, the Philippines, South Africa, Thailand, and Uruguay.
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