http://news.chinatimes.com/Chinatimes/Moment/newfocus-index/0,3687,9412190011+94121901+0+104434+0,00.html 世贸:2013终止农产出口补助 黄建育/ 综合香港十八日外电报导 参加世界贸易组织（ＷＴＯ）第六届部长级会议各国谈判代表今天达成突破性的折衷协议 ，以欧洲联盟所提版本而设定二○一三年为终止所有农产品出口补助的最後期限。谈判各 方并提议於明年四月卅日前设立架构，替世贸组织第一轮多边贸易谈判「多哈回合」有关 削减农产品和工业产品之关税壁垒与补贴定调。 由於美国及若干主要开发中国家所提版本是在二○一○年之前取消所有农产品出口补助， 使期限问题成了这次会议最激烈的一个谈判议题。 美及廿国集团 乐见协议达成 而协议的达成除了使为期六天的这次会议免於破局之外，更因为化解了全球贸易自由化谈 判上一大症结，而挽回了世贸组织系列谈判在国际间的信誉。 不过，由於会议期间在铲除贸易障碍方面进展有限，让许多国家在失望之余，也对该组织 期望在明年底之前达成一项全球性贸易协定的目标形成相当压力。 欧盟贸易执委曼德森评论时指出，协议本身「虽不足让这次会议成功，但能让会议免於失 败」。他表示，协议内文「尚可接受」。会议期间，欧盟代表团曾面临各国要求欧洲开放 农产品市场的巨大压力。 虽然一些反贫穷团体指责今天这项协议「背叛了穷人」，但主要贸易集团的部长却赞扬， 至少这是向前跨了一步。此外，美国代表团及由主要开发中国家组成的「二十国集团」 (G-20)对协议内文也表欢迎。 世贸:2013终止农产出口补助 原本坚持终止农产品补助期限应订在二○一○年的巴西外交部长阿摩林，在代表「G-20」 发言时指出：「我们虽未能争取到这个期限，但总算有了一个日期，一个结束的日期」。 世贸组织谈判 国际信誉保住 阿摩林进一步说：「这项协议还算合理，而某种程度上，协议也保住了ＷＴＯ所举行谈判 的信誉。本人乐见这种情况」。同时，印度贸易部长纳斯也称：「我们欢迎这项协议。它 的焦点很清楚，并顾及发展中国家所面临各种层次的问题。」 由一百四十九个国家及关税领域组成的ＷＴＯ是一个以共识决为基础的组织，因此只要任 何一个会员国表示反对，协议最终都无法达成。 这项协议范围还包括美国在内的已开发国家须在二○○六年取消棉花出口补贴、及给予贫 穷国家贸易优惠待遇等，虽说协议规模格局比各国代表团原本希望在香港达成的小了许多 。 http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/19/business/worldbusiness/19trade.html Trade Officials Agree to End Subsidies for Agricultural Exports By KEITH BRADSHER Published: December 19, 2005 HONG KONG, Monday, Dec. 19 - Trade ministers representing most of the world's governments reached a deal here on Sunday night that sets a deadline for wiping out subsidies of agricultural exports by 2013, realizing a goal that United States negotiators have been pursuing for two decades. The final declaration from the talks, which resolved several issues that have stood in the way of a global trade agreement, also requires industrialized countries to open their markets to goods from the world's poorest nations, a goal of the United Nations for many years. The declaration gives fresh impetus for negotiators to try to finish a comprehensive set of global free trade rules by the end of next year, in time for President Bush to submit it to Congress before his special negotiating authority expires. "I now believe it is possible, which I did not a month ago," said Pascal Lamy, the World Trade Organization's director general. But the declaration does not settle the biggest trade issues facing the W.T.O.'s members. Some of these issues were barely discussed here because the sides are so far apart, including lower tariffs on agricultural and manufactured goods, and limits on domestic farm subsidies. Senator Charles E. Grassley, the Iowa Republican who is the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, said that more negotiations were needed, noting that "on the toughest issues, it just kicks the can down the road." Other provisions in the declaration include a broad agreement to ban fishing industry subsidies that contribute to overfishing; special help for impoverished cotton-growing countries in Africa; and a plan for the United States, the European Union and Japan to provide several billion dollars a year in aid to developing countries to help them compete in global trade. With the exception of an end to cotton export subsidies, which is already moving through Congress, American commitments in the declaration will not require Congressional action until a comprehensive trade deal is ready for a vote. All of the W.T.O.'s 149 member nations and customs territories approved the declaration. The leaders of delegations from Cuba and Venezuela stood up in the last five minutes of the six-day conference to reserve the right to exempt their countries later from new rules being negotiated for service industries like banking, insurance and telecommunications. As with many trade agreements at the ministerial level, the declaration also papers over differences that could prove troublesome later. The agreement to end agricultural export subsidies by 2013, which was reluctantly accepted by the European Union, calls for a "substantial" part of these subsidies to be eliminated well before then, but does not specify what this means. Similarly, the ban on fishing subsidies does not define overfishing. And the agreement on cotton postpones the tricky question of how quickly the United States should lower its subsidies, which West African nations blame for depressing the prices that their farmers receive. Mr. Lamy said that the agreement left negotiators 60 percent of the way to finishing a round of negotiations that began four years ago in Doha, Qatar. Peter Mandelson, the European Union's trade commissioner, acknowledged that the Hong Kong declaration was far from comprehensive. "If we didn't make the conference a success, we certainly saved it from failure," Mr. Mandelson said. Susan Schwab, a deputy United States trade representative, was more optimistic. "The progress made today really lays the groundwork for a major negotiation going forward," Ms. Schwab said. Kamal Nath, India's minister of commerce and industry, especially welcomed a decision by rich countries to eliminate quotas and tariffs by 2008 on 97 percent of categories of goods from the world's 50 poorest nations. The United States currently does not impose tariffs and quotas on 83 percent of categories, and Japan on 87 percent. The European Union already exempts virtually all imports from tariffs and quotas if they come from the world's poorest nations. It restricts these imports instead with stringent rules specifying that each poor country must produce much of the value of the product itself, instead of importing sophisticated components from wealthier countries for final assembly. Developing countries had criticized the outcomes of previous ministerial talks as too often dictated by rich countries. "For the first time, it doesn't appear like a script written by developed countries," Mr. Nath said in an interview. The conclusion of a deal on Sunday evening marked a sharp turnaround from the gloom on Saturday afternoon, when negotiators were deadlocked over several issues while about 1,000 protesters fought the police outside. The violence left at least 116 people injured, including 56 officers, although no one suffered critical injuries, the police said. A turning point in the talks came Saturday evening, when Mr. Mandelson and Mariann Fischer Boel, the European Union's agriculture commissioner, introduced a proposal calling for a worldwide ban on agriculture export subsidies by 2013. The successful proposal came after Europe's leaders agreed Saturday morning in Brussels on a budget extending existing farm subsidies through 2013. Mr. Mandelson said he and Ms. Fischer Boel had acted independently, introducing their own proposal Saturday evening. Industrial countries had agreed in July 2004 that the export subsidies should end, but had been unable after that to set a date. Until Saturday evening, European negotiators had insisted that they would not accept any deadline for an end to subsidies unless the United States accepted a ban on sending free American-grown food to poor countries. The European Union asked that the United States buy food in poor countries from local farmers instead, pushing up local prices. Many countries, notably Brazil and the United States, had been discussing a 2010 deadline and had expressed concerns, echoed by the United Nations, that a ban on food aid might interrupt vital shipments to places like the Darfur region of Sudan. The United States ended up accepting a ban on shipping free American-grown food to areas without shortages and where the American food would displace locally grown food in the marketplace, an arrangement that Mr. Mandelson welcomed. "We will continue to demand that others move with us, every step, every cut," he said in an interview with a small group of journalists. --

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