Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2002. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

Reuters NewMedia - October 27, 2002
Doug Palmer

Mexico, which hosted the annual Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, will also host next year's World Trade Organization meeting in September 2003.

By the end of this year, member countries of the WTO must determine how to provide access to generic lifesaving drugs for poor countries. And by March, WTO members must agree on a basic framework for negotiations over agriculture, the area of greatest interest for most member countries.

In a statement issued on Sunday, the leaders of the 21-member APEC forum called "for progress across all areas in the lead-up to the 2003 WTO Fifth Ministerial Conference in Cancun," and encouraged negotiators to finish global trade talks by Jan. 1, 2005.

The APEC statement also said "one of the objectives (of the WTO talks) should be the abolition of all forms of agricultural export subsidies, and unjustifiable export prohibitions and restrictions."

A new hurdle in already difficult agricultural trade talks emerged this week. EU leaders agreed to cap agricultural spending after 2006, but delayed tough reforms sought by Britain and other supporters of radical farm subsidy cuts.

The United States, which has been criticized for its heavy subsidies in a farm bill enacted this year, has reduced its export subsidies to about $15 million annually. But the European Union continues to spend billions of dollars each year to dispose of its surplus agricultural production.

Without progress in the farm trade talks, it is unlikely that WTO negotiations on areas such as tariffs on industrial goods will advance.

Generic drugs are another vexing issue for trade negotiators.

In 2001, WTO members agreed they had the flexibility under international trade rules to license domestic manufacturers to make less expensive versions of patented drugs in response to emergencies or a public health crisis, such as HIV/AIDS.

But they did not resolve how poor countries that do not have a pharmaceutical industry would access the lifesaving generic drugs.

The issue has pitted drug companies in the United States and Europe, which spend heavily on research and development, against generic drug manufacturers in Brazil and India.

WTO Director General Supachai Panitchpakdi said this week he was optimistic of a deal by the end of the year.

The remaining differences "are not insurmountable," he said.

APEC member countries include Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, the Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, the United States and Vietnam.

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