MEDIATORS at the World Trade Organisation made a bid to salvage a global free trade deal today by proposing compromises to overcome impasses in the key areas of agriculture and industrial goods.
The proposals are seen as possibly the last chance to save the so-called Doha round, which has lurched from crisis to crisis since it was launched in Qatar in 2001 to help lift millions of people out of poverty.
In an attempt to break the deadlock, diplomats chairing the WTO negotiations floated detailed texts spelling out ranges of cuts for farm subsidies and a formula for import tariff cuts for agricultural and industrial goods.
"Some of those narrow ranges or target numbers or technical draft text will be very painful, for sure. But that pain will be required to get agreement," said New Zealand's ambassador to the WTO, Crawford Falconer, who chairs the agriculture negotiations.
Under his plan, the United States would have to cut a ceiling for farm subsidies to between $US13 billion ($14.96 billion) and $US16.4 billion ($18.87 billion) a year, lower than its offer so far of $US17 billion ($19.56 billion).
The European Union would have to cut its highest tariffs on farm imports by 73 per cent, more than its offer of 60 per cent.
Don Stephenson, Canada's ambassador to the WTO and chairman of the industrial goods talks, said countries needed to "search for balance" between their competing interests.
"This text is a bridging exercise," he told a Geneva news conference after proposing that developing nations should accept deeper cuts to manufacturing tariffs than their recent offers.
Developing countries would have tariffs for industrial goods below 12 per cent on average and only a handful would have them above 15 per cent, although the poorest countries would be permitted to maintain higher average duties.
Developed countries should cut tariffs to below three per cent on average with "peaks", or individually high duties, under 10 per cent, Mr Stephenson said.
Trade diplomats say reactions from WTO countries to the proposals will determine whether the Doha round can be wrapped up in 2007. WTO chief Pascal Lamy has warned that without a deal this year, the talks could be put on ice for several years.
The EU welcomed the proposals as "a useful step forward" but warned it had "important concerns and other significant issues in the negotiations that are not included in these texts".
The United States, India and Brazil, other core members of the WTO, said it was too early to comment although Washington said it hoped the new texts could pave the way for a deal.
Disputes over farm and industrial goods have dogged the Doha round negotiations for years.
The talks were suspended last July for six months after some countries resisted exposing sensitive industries such as rice, dairy, clothing and car parts, to more foreign competition.
Hopes for a Doha deal, which would also include trade in services, took another hit in June when a meeting between the EU, the United States, India and Brazil collapsed acrimoniously.
If the chairs' proposals are well-received, diplomats say trade ministers could be called to Geneva this fall for another try at concluding the deal which the World Bank says could add $US96 billion ($110.47 billion) annually to the global economy.
"This deal is still doable," Mr Stephenson said. "This deal is still within the members' grasp if they want it."
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