EU takes hard line at WTO talks

The European Union is taking a hard line as talks to negotiate a global trade deal start in Hong Kong, Trade Negotiations Minister Jim Sutton said today.

The World Trade Organisation's ministerial meeting aims to get the lengthy negotiations back on track, and Mr Sutton said the crunch point was the EU's position on agricultural trade access.

"There's not much sign of softness and eagerness to please on behalf of the EU," he said after holding informal meetings with European representatives.

"They're feeling hurt and resentful that the rest of the world has spurned their offers so far and is demanding something better."

However, Mr Sutton said it had not been widely expected that the EU would make a substantial new offer at this stage.

"There's no more unanimity within the EU than there is within the 150 members of the WTO," he said.

"What we have to do is create a platform for early next year. This is about avoiding failure and building a credible programme to get the framework completed by maybe early March."

Mr Sutton said the real need was to have the entire agreement to liberalise world trade ratified before the US Congress' delegated authority to the president to negotiate a trade agreement expired in 2007.

With the first meeting of the WTO's Core Consultative Group about to begin, Mr Sutton said he was expecting a long session overnight (NZT).

"It's the engine room of the negotiations...I suspect it will set the scene for the rest of the week," he said.

During his informal meetings Mr Sutton talked to Brazil's Agriculture Minister Roberto Rodriguez, a key player in the attempt to persuade the EU to improve its agricultural trade access offer.

"The big industrialised countries could put up an offer on non-agricultural market access to wet the lips of European manufacturers," Mr Sutton said.

"That would put pressure on them to make a better agricultural access offer."

- NZPA