As a revised draft text of the current WTO meet Ministerial declaration was released in Hong Kong today, anti-WTO protesters escalated their tirade to violent levels close to and around the Hong Kong Convention Center, where negotiators from the 150 member countries continue to thrash out issues.Protesters even managed to break into the venue, instigating the police to announce a curfew in the area. In the draft text hammered out today, the core contentious issue of generous subsidies extended by the EU and the US to their farmers continued to be evaded. Even setting the end date for one of the pillars of these agricultural subsidies - export subsidies — a key demand of developing countries including India and Brazil was not agreed upon, with the EU and the US continuing to blame each other for the stalemate.In fact, Brazilian President Luiz In cio Lula Da Silva has written to political leaders around the world, including PM Manmohan Singh, and has called for a meeting of world leaders to resolve the issues facing global trade and save the Doha Development Round from utter failure.Though India’s key agricultural concerns of food and livelihood security have been incorporated in the draft text, the India’s key demands on industrial tariffs and services were not explicitly integrated into the text. The dilution of India’s stand on services in the text is not a big problem, say analysts, but the G-90 nations have expressed serious concerns and may veto the text.The draft text language, in typical WTO fashion, is very ambiguous on most aspects. Trade analysts said that the biggest concern for India in the draft would be the lack of concrete language on flexibilities in the area of industrial tariffs. If accepted in the current form, the days of protection for Indian industry could be numbered.Representatives from the Indian chambers of commerce urged Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath to reject the present draft on Non-Agricultural Market Access, as it failed to correctly reflect the concerns of developing countries. Nath called the draft text a step forward, but said he would press for improvements at the marathon all-night negotiations to begin late tonight.On the unresolved important issue of TRIPS and the Convention of Bio-diversity that has dragged on for over 8 years now, Nath said that “We are up against a wall of obduracy in a handful of our developed country partners.”The expectations from the Hong Kong meet were low to begin with. But even the few gestures that were expected to provide an impetus for continuing negotiations have not come from the developed world. EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson’s assertion over the last few days that he came to Hong Kong with ‘empty pockets’, turned out to be more than a tactical ploy as at about 3 am last night, he told other negotiators that he had no mandate to offer anything beyond their original proposals.Mandelson himself conceded there are problems with the draft text, but remained firm. “It lacks balance and is not what we hoped for. We expect to be put under pressure tonight on export subsidies. We will defend our interests.”
