Rich is rich, poor is poor, never the twain shall meet

WTO protesters display effigies of EU, US and Japanese leaders. Picture / Reuters

HONG KONG - Developing nations went on the offensive yesterday as trade talks limped into their third day, with Washington and Tokyo under pressure to accept a duty-free, quota-free exports deal for poor nations.

The World Bank added its voice to the indignation expressed by the least developed countries over their treatment at the World Trade Organisation meeting in Hong Kong, with bank vice-president Danny Leipziger saying: "The major trading economies of the developed world are keeping the big issues off the table and, as long as that happens, the poor will suffer."

Protests continued when a group of about 200 fishermen from Thailand, the Philippines, Cambodia, Vietnam and Malaysia tried to hand a letter to the WTO urging it to suspend talks on fishing, but were halted by police.


The Hong Kong meeting was initially intended to approve a draft trade treaty freeing up business in farm and industrial goods and services, known as the Doha round.

That plan was abandoned because of differences between rich and poor nations, but the WTO had hoped for at least a duty-free and quota-free deal for the world's 49 poorest nations and their 700 million people.

But the US has balked at allowing poor exporters free access to sensitive areas such as textiles, sugar and cotton, and Japan does not want to open its rice market.

- REUTERS