no gift of fairer world trade for Christmas?

The 149 ministers from various countries taking part in the meetings in Hong Kong for the World Trade Organization are set to agree on a compromise agreement at the cost of postponing until next year all the most difficult negotiations.

In this compromise agreement, the ministers agree that by the end of March 2006 a blueprint for completing the negotiations would be made ready which would determine the shape of the final agreements to liberalize trade in agriculture and in industrial goods and services.

I hope they seriously try to make progress to liberalize trade by having the European Union to eliminate its farm export subsidies and by having the United States to open fully its market to textiles exports from developing countries or to agree to phasing out trade-distorting subsidies to its cotton producers.

A surefire way for many developing countries to start emerging from the dismal economic situation they’re in is to make world trade fairer, which in turn increases these countries’ revenues.

I was hoping for a Christmas gift from advanced countries such as the US and the members of the European Union to these developing countries in the form of a better and fairer playing field in world trade.

But, *sigh* I guess it will have to wait.


Read about it here.