Force rich countries to honor their trade commitments, RP asks WTO

The Philippine government wants the World Trade Organization (WTO) to be firmer in pressing rich countries to commit to a fairer global farm trade.

Agriculture Secretary Leonardo Montemayor who dispatched agriculture undersecretary Segfredo Serrano to attend the special negotiation session of the WTO agriculture committee in Geneva, Switzerland, said the WTO should be more resolute in enforcing commitments already made by developed countries to correct the current gross imbalances in the agriculture sector.

"We’re asking in this special WTO session to give developing countries such us ours better farm trade terms so that once an agreement on agriculture is forged, we would be in a position to compete squarely against the rest of the world even under the regime of liberalized trade," said Montemayor.

The session, which started in 2000 and now on its third phase, is being convened by the world trade body composed of over 110 member nations, to discuss matters relating to the forging of an agreement on agriculture.

If approved and implemented beginning 2004, the agreement will govern the international trade of farm products among and between countries in the years to come.

Montemayor said that in the ongoing special sessions, the Philip-pines wants the WTO to ensure poor nations are not forced to further reduce their tariffs on certain import commodities unless developed countries substantially cut and eventually remove export subsidies and domestic support measures on their farm goods.

He said the WTO should also adopt measures that provide for a balancing mechanism in the form of additional duty which poorer countries may slap on inbound goods to counter agricultural imports that are subsidized by richer nations.

In addition, it wants to retain special safeguard provisions in the proposed agreement, but this should apply only to developing countries to ensure protection against import surges.

On top of this, the Philippines wants the special and differential treatment (SND) provision for developing countries to be made an integral part of all agreements in the WTO to enable poorer countries cope with the unbridled attack posed by globalization.

Montemayor said SND measures include longer period for developing countries to implement WTO agreements, less ambitious reduction commitments and more flexibility accorded to poor nations to enable them to meet their own food security needs.