Hot issues dumped in WTO lap

GENEVA -- Trade ambassadors yesterday abandoned 14 months of discussions on the content of a new round of trade talks, leaving government ministers with the task of sorting out the most contentious issues -- in four days.

Ministers from the World Trade Organization's 135 member countries will meet in Seattle next week to set the agenda for a new round of trade negotiations to begin early next year.

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"Everyone is holding out for their national positions, and I expect people to remain firm until they get on the plane," U.S. trade ambassador Rita Hayes said.

Representatives were supposed to produce a proposed declaration for ministers to issue at the end of the meeting. It can only be a few pages long, but they are sending ministers a 32-page document with alternative suggestions for almost every line.

Still, WTO Director-General Mike Moore said yesterday that too much was at stake for the Seattle meeting to be aborted. "I believe it will be done. Seattle will not fail," he said.

In Washington, U.S. Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky said she wasn't worried that the talks in Geneva had broken off without an agreement and predicted the trade ministers will be able to reach agreement during the four days of discussions next week.

"This is a negotiation. It will break down and resume. I am not the least bit concerned," she said during an appearance at the National Press Club. "I have a high degree of confidence in the outcome of Seattle. Getting there is a little messy, but that is the nature of the beast."

There have been two main sticking points, Moore told a news conference. "We have made progress in a number of areas, but everything is connected to everything else."

One of the main issues relates to agriculture. The European Union's subsidies program for farmers is provoking strong criticism from other leading agricultural nations that claim it creates artificially cheap exports and prices them out of the world market.

The other issue is the implementation of existing agreements, especially the previous trade round, which was concluded in 1994.

Developing countries say they have not received the benefits they were promised from the opening of markets and they want more time to fulfill their obligations while asking richer countries to speed up their own moves to improve market access.

Despite the fact that ambassadors have been unable to agree on the agenda for the new round up to now, Moore said he was confident that there would be agreement in Seattle.

Brazilian Ambassador Celso Amorim told reporters: "For whoever likes excitement, it is pleasant. For me it isn't. The normal WTO maxim is: 'Nothing is agreed until everything is agreed.' This time nothing is agreed, full stop."