WTO pledges to steer clear of Seattle traps

QATAR - This week's meeting of global trade ministers will not fall into the traps that led to the collapse of the Seattle conference, the head of the World Trade Organisation says.

"We have learned a lot out of Seattle," WTO Director-General Mike Moore said as ministers began arriving in Doha for the meeting, which opened overnight.

Officials hope to launch a new round of trade liberalisation talks, but the five-day meeting will have to overcome differences among the 142 WTO members on issues such as agriculture, the environment and access to medicines.

The meeting is taking place amid heavy security. On Wednesday, a gunman opened fire on US and Qatari soldiers guarding an air base in the Persian Gulf country. The soldiers shot and killed the gunman, whose motives were unknown.

Some trade delegations have expressed concern about safety in light of the September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States.

The Qatari Government supports the US war on terrorism, but many ordinary Arabs oppose it and the presence of American troops in Mideast countries such as Qatar.

In Doha, the ministers' goal is to agree on a joint declaration that will announce the issues they will tackle in the new round.

Mr Moore said the latest draft of the declaration, drawn up by Hong Kong's ambassador to the WTO, Stuart Harbinson, had left ministers with "a balance of unhappiness".

"There are those who feel we have gone too far and those who feel we haven't gone far enough," he said.

"But this isn't an agreed document - it's a basis for agreement."

The meeting in Seattle in 1999 was also supposed to launch a new round, but it failed amid rioting from anti-globalisation protesters and complaints by smaller and poorer countries that they had been left out of the important discussions.

This time, Mr Moore said, the major talks would involve all ministers, but they would be allowed only two advisers, so the meetings could remain fairly small.

The last trade round - the Uruguay Round completed in 1994 - committed members to reduce import tariffs and drop other barriers on a wide range of goods and services, but also for the first time looked at new areas, including agriculture and intellectual property rights.

The increasing range of issues that can be included in trade talks has led to many disagreements.

One issue that was partially responsible for the collapse in Seattle - US insistence that the talks should consider labour standards - looks set to be sidelined this time. But a new disagreement has arisen that sets the US against developing nations.

Poorer nations say they want wider powers to handle health crises, such as the Aids epidemic, without being constrained by the WTO's agreement on patent protection.

The US, supported by Switzerland, insists that the agreement already has enough flexibility.

Mr Moore said this dispute was the one area where "differences were so profound" that the draft declaration did not even suggest a final wording. "I am hopeful that we can come out with something that both sides feel is reasonable," he added.

Anthony Gooch, a spokesman for the European Union - which claims to be an honest broker on the issue - said it was necessary to strike a balance between creating incentives for pharmaceutical companies to carry out research and ensuring that sick people can afford the end product.

A senior US trade official said launching talks would give a boost to the American economy.

"Our economy is in a significant slowdown, so it is very important to convey to investors that the system is not going to start to close down," he said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

During the meeting the WTO also plans to rubber-stamp the membership of China and its neighbour, Taiwan.

China spent more than 15 years negotiating its terms of membership. Its arrival in the WTO means it will have to abide by international rules for conducting trade but will benefit from receiving the same trading terms as other WTO members.

- NZPA