Unofficial translation of article from Le

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 PARIS 007935 SIPDIS BRUSSELS PASS USEU FOR AGMINCOUNSELOR STATE FOR OES; EUR/ERA; STATE PASS USTR FOR MURPHY; USDA/OS/JOHANNS AND PENN; USDA/FAS FOR OA/TERPSTRA/ROBERTS; ITP/SHEIKH/HENKE/MACKE/TOM POMEROY/MIKE WOOLSEY/GREG YOUNG; FAA/SEBRANEK/BLEGGI; EU POSTS PASS TO AGRICULTURE AND ECON GENEVA FOR USTR, ALSO AGRICULTURE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: EAGR ETRD FR WTRO EUN SUBJECT: Unofficial translation of article from Le Figaro dated November 18, 2005 : "Why development should be the priority of WTO" by Christine Lagarde, French Junior Minister for Trade ¶1. Trade Minister Christine Lagarde has signed two recent op-ed pieces on the WTO round. The latest, published on November 21 in the Financial Times entitled "Big Cuts in Farm Tariffs are No Solution to Poverty" warns against "blindly slashing" agricultural tariffs, and proposes focusing on the value in maintaining the European "multifunctional" model of a farm, balancing rural development, food security and environmental protection. The previous op-ed article, focused on the importance of development goals in the WTO negotiations, was published on November 18 in the right-of-center daily Le Figaro. Available only in French, it has been translated unofficially by Embassy Paris and is provided below : ¶2. "Early December, the World Trade Organization (WTO) ministerial conference will start in Hong Kong. This conference is a deciding stage in the success of the Doha round for "development" launched in 2001. For France, the stake of these negotiations is simple. It is to control globalization and to favor the integration of poor countries into the world economy so that these negotiations result in the development of these countries. Two conditions are necessary. First the local environment should be favorable. The quality of facilities, regulations, and political governance are essential factors. The challenge of the French cooperation and assistance policy is to assist these countries in creating good conditions for development. Trade negotiations should really take into consideration the expectations of developing countries. An uncontrolled liberalization would not benefit poor countries, which would be in a stranglehold between the increase of global agricultural prices and the progressive decrease of trade benefits granted by developed countries. On the eve of the Hong Kong Conference, I note that negotiations have brought no clear answers to the questions of poor countries. To put development back into the heart of the round, I have identified three priorities. First, all developed countries should open their markets to products from developing countries and especially from the poorest of them. The European Union, the first import market in the world, already made many efforts to welcome exports from developing countries and is ready to make more. With its trade preferences, the most generous in the world, it imports more agricultural products from poor countries than the United States, Japan, Australia, Canada and New Zealand together. The European Union absorbs three quarters of the exports from sub-Saharan Africa. This opening should also be as wide as possible, otherwise a few large developing countries (Brazil, India) or developed countries will benefit from European concessions. These pitfalls are clearly identified by the most recent studies, especially by the World Bank and by OECD. We may also look at our historical experience. One tends to forget that the majority of rich countries developed themselves in the 19th century by opening progressively after protecting their domestic market. Then, developing countries should commit themselves to reform their agricultural policy. Once again, the European Union is in the avant- garde : since 1992, it is the only trade area to have implemented a reduction of its production and agricultural subsidies. The last reform, decided in 2003, will significantly reduce subsidies. Unfortunately, this action was not followed by similar commitments from others. During the revision of their Farm Bill, the United States, has doubled their agricultural subsidies, increasing the average support to 17,000 euros per farmer, which is almost 50% more than in Europe. An end should also be put to subsidies, especially American, for cotton producers which jeopardize the economy of African countries specializing in this production for which they are very competitive. This is of vital importance for a country like Benin, where cotton represents 75% of exports. Third priority, world trade rules should be adapted in order to favor the development of countries that are excluded from it. More favorable customs rules should be granted to less developed countries. Developing and developed countries should also accept that trade rules be adapted to the wealth of developing countries. What is more legitimate than to offer Ghana, for instance, (GDP/capita : 260 euros) better conditions than those offered to Brazil (GNP/capita : 2,660 euros) ? The question of the access of poor countries to generic drugs is also a priority and should mobilize developed and developing countries. In sub-Saharan Africa, 2 million persons died from AIDS in 2005. WTO negotiations are an opportunity to set up a legal framework allowing poorest countries to import generic drugs are a moderate price. It is urgent to meet these objectives : the Hong Kong conference takes place in a month. France and Europe, fully aware of these challenges and of this emergency, have put on the table bold proposals to make this round that of development." Stapleton