Jakarta - Members of the Group of 33 (G-33) ended two days of talks in Indonesia on Wednesday by calling on rich nations to give more ground to help reach a global free trade deal. Indonesian Trade Minister Marie E. Pangestu told a joint press conference that G-33 members pledged "full support and reconfirmed their solidarity and unity" in addressing the issues of food and livelihood security for developing nations in any trade deal.
"The developed countries need to show their leadership to move the process of negotiations forward," she said. "It shouldn't be on the developing countries to be the ones to move faster or more than the developed countries."
The five-year-old Doha Round was relaunched in January after a six-month suspension triggered by differences among major trading partners, especially the United States and the European Union, over agricultural subsidies.
The so-called G-4, the European Union, the United States, Brazil and India, have intensified efforts in to reach a consensus on agriculture - the main sticking point in the talks - as well as on industrial goods and services.
The World Trade Organisation (WTO) launched the Doha negotiations in 2001 to cut barriers to trade around the world as a way to lift millions of people out of poverty and boost the global economy.
WTO director-general Pascal Lamy has visited Indonesia and several other developing nations in recent weeks to forge consensus on a possible new offer from the G-4.
He warned that international institutions such as the United Nations, World Bank and others could suffer if a framework for a new global trade regime acceptable to the developing world was not agreed to by July 1.
On that day, US President George Bush's special authority to fast-track trade deals will expire, meaning any future global pact could be held up and altered by the US Congress. If key economic powers can reach consensus on contentious issues including agricultural subsidies and tariffs by then, Bush may be able to secure an extension on his fast-track authority through December.
EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson, who was in Jakarta for the talks, also warned time is running out.
"We are not giving that space of time indefinitely. Sooner, rather than later, this has to come back to the multilateral process," he said.
The G-33 ministers said they would be responsive to changes in the positions held by developed nations to successfully conclude the Doha Round, Pangestu said.
"We are moving. We are doing our homework and we are ready to negotiate once there is movement on the other issues," she said. "Links to market-access that we need to see happen with the reduction of the trade distorting measures in the developed countries."
At a ceremony Tuesday ahead of the talks, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono urged rich nations to give ground on agriculture and said developing countries should stand firm.
