World Bank President Robert Zoellick said Friday if the draft texts released this week eventually become the basis of a world trade deal, all economies should be able to benefit.
"It is particularly important for poor farmers and workers in developing countries to have greater opportunities to sell their products in the global marketplace and benefit from lower prices," Zoellick said in a statement.
Negotiators in the WTO working on the Doha Development Agenda brought the discussions one important step closer to bearing fruit, said the president, who took office on July 1.
They issued draft compromise texts Tuesday on agricultural and industrial trade to revive the Doha Development Round, dedicated to reducing global trade barriers and encouraging development.
Under their proposals, the United States would cut farm subsidies to below US$16.2 billion a year, compared with a current ceiling of US$19 billion, and 27 developing nations would reduce industrial import tariffs to less than 23 percent.
Meanwhile, the European Union would slightly reduce its import farm tariffs to between 52.0 and 53.5 percent, within a range European Union Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson has indicated he is ready to accept, according to news reports.
"I know from personal experience that the negotiations have been long and arduous," said Zoellick, who was US Trade Representative from 2001 to 2005 and helped launch the Doha Round in the Qatari capital in 2001.
"Probably no government will be totally pleased, and many will find much to criticize," he said. "Nevertheless, the papers reveal just how much significant progress has already been achieved, and that the remaining gaps can be specified to achieve compromise, even though the topics are contentious."
The global community should stay focused on the prize, Zoellick said. "If the draft texts eventually become the basis of an agreement, all economies should be able to benefit."
The Doha Round talks had been revived in February and suffered another jolt last month when the key negotiators -- the United States, European union, India and Brazil -- failed to agree on the extent of tariff and export subsidy cuts.
Representatives of the WTO's 150 members are due to meet in negotiating groups next week in Geneva, Switzerland, to give their initial reactions to the proposals, according to news reports.
"The World Bank wants to support the negotiators from all countries -- but especially the poorest -- to gain from a successful negotiation," Zoellick said in the statement.
(Xinhua News Agency July 21, 2007)
