The crucial WTO Ministerial Meeting got underway here today amid scuffles between the police and angry mobs, even as trade ministers sought to broker a deal on agriculture, industrial tariffs and putting together a package for the Least Developed Countries (LDCs). WTO Director General Pascal Lamy kicked off proceedings calling member countries who disagree on virtually everything in the current trade talks, to ‘‘enter the cave of the tiger’’. “No matter how rich or poor you are, you have a right to speak, agree or disagree in these talks. Despite all the criticism, WTO is democratic and it remains the best way to take decisions,’’ he said. Lamy’s inaugural speech was defensive and was delivered between slogans from protesters who managed to enter the inaugural ceremony. ‘‘Short of a magic wand, I can only advise negotiators to be open-minded, bold and courageous and try to ensure that the Doha Development Round has a chance at success,’’ Lamy pleaded. But the mood in the key negotiators’ camps was different. Indian commerce and industry minister and the G-20 nations, that represent 70 per cent of the world’s farmers, stuck to their stand of not yielding on any other issues, unless the EU and the US substantially reduced the subsidies extended to their farmers. Nath even made a fresh demand that the EU and US should not only substantially reduce the subsidies, but also provide a roadmap for a complete elimination of these subsidies. By then, the EU-US war of words had already begun. EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson, who stuck to his earlier stand, said, ‘‘We have moved to eliminate export subsidies. We would want to see similar moves to be made by Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the US,’’ he said. The EU, he said, hadn’t come empty-handed to Hong Kong and intends to increase its aid for trade efforts for the LDCs to 2 billion Euros per year by 2010. Earlier in the morning, US Trade Representative Rob Portman had said the EU ‘‘seems to be obsessed with food aid’’. Mandelson reacted, saying, “It’s shocking that an UN agency should finance an ad, on the back page of Financial Times today, designed to support US’ trade-distorting policies on Food Aid. The US’ Food Aid in-kind programme, is designed to help their local businesses. Small wonder that Lamy has already scaled down hopes from the meeting. Although other areas may be talked about, he said the negotiating energy among members is limited. ‘‘What we are trying to do is to move this negotiation one step forward so that the December 2006 deadline for the Doha round can be met.”
