Calls to ease trade restrictions at Addis Ababa conference

The US and EU on Tuesday faced calls from impoverished nations to ease trade restrictions ahead of talks aimed at kick-starting stalled world trade negotiations. Jean-Robert Goulongana, the secretary-general of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries, said that subsidies and tariffs upheld by the US and EU were "distorting" fair trade. "I don’t think anybody can say subsidies are good and are not harmful," he told journalists at a press conference in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa. His plea comes as EU Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy and US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick meet in Mombasa, Kenya, on Tuesday for two days of talks. The talks follow the stalled World Trade Organisation (WTO) negotiations held in Cancun, Mexico in September towards creating a better deal for poor countries. They collapsed amid bitter wrangling after disagreement between the world’s economic powerhouses and the poorest nations over trade subsidies. Third World countries complain bitterly that massive trade tariffs, as well as subsidies worth US $1 billion a day are stifling the development of poor nations. The new negotiations in Kenya, which will also be attended by WTO Director-General Supachai Panitchpakdi, aim to rekindle the Cancun talks. Goulongana was speaking during a four-day summit held in Addis Ababa between 300 parliamentarians from the EU and the 78-nation-strong ACP countries. The ACP represents more than 650 million people and includes 40 of the world’s poorest countries, many of them dependent on commodities for their economies. The ACP and EU parliamentarians are meeting to discuss peace and security in developing countries, aid, trade and the health crisis in poor countries. Trade between the ACP group and the EU totals €58 billion (about US $74 billion), with the EU importing good worth about €30 billion. But subsidies and tariffs are hampering further growth. "This is a good opportunity for the EU and US to overcome their intransigence, which prompted the collapse of the Cancun talks," said Sam Barratt of Oxfam International told IRIN in Addis Ababa. "Both the European Union and the US need to go much further in cutting their subsidies if they are really committed to helping the world’s poor," he added. Goulongana said many factors hampering growth in poor countries were beyond the control of governments in those countries. He noted that natural disasters, massive debt repayments and trade barriers were continuing to blight the future of many of them despite good economic policies being put in place. Earlier, EU Development and Humanitarian Commissioner Poul Nielson said that the EU's expansion to 25 member states was likely to lead to an increase in support. "The Union of 25 will introduce new donors to the world of development cooperation," he told the Addis Ababa conference. "The integration of new perspectives and experiences will enrich our cooperation." Lamy, who also attended in the talks in Ethiopia, told delegates that regional integration would prove vital if the countries wanted to enlarge their economic markets. But he noted that many obstacles to greater regional trade between ACP countries and to greater investment remained.