CANCUN, Mexico (AFP) — A WTO draft trade text issued here yesterday calls for an end to export subsidies on farm products of special interest to developing countries and their gradual elimination on other farm goods, according to a copy obtained by AFP.

The highly-anticipated 22-page text was drafted by the Mexican hosts of a World Trade Organisation conference and is aimed at bridging gaps in positions that have held up progress toward a new multilateral trade deal.

But no figures or timeframes on the reform of export subsidies were contained in the draft, released a day before the five-day gathering of WTO trade ministers was due to conclude in this Caribbean resort.

Big farm exporters of the 17-strong Cairns Group, led by Australia, and a newly-formed group of 21 developing countries, whose key figures include Brazil, India and China, have been pressing for the complete elimination of export subsidies.

But the EU is more reticent, though the 15-nation bloc has voiced readiness to wipe out this form of support for products of particular interest to poor countries.

The draft text calls on members to commit to “eliminate export subsidies for products of particular interest to developing countries”, stating that a list of these products will be established.

For other agricultural products, members “shall commit to reduce, with a view to phasing out budgetary and quantity allowances for export subsidies,” according to the draft.

On another divisive issue, the draft proposes the launch of negotiations to draw up new global rules on government procurement and trade facilitation, which basically means easing customs procedures.

But on two other more controversial matters — regulations on cross-border investment and competition — the text merely calls for further consideration.

Developing countries had particularly objected to expanding the WTO mandate to include investment rules, fearing they would in the end benefit Western capitalists at the expense of their own industries.

The 4,600 delegates attending the conference were due to spend several hours studying the text here before meeting later yesterday to give their initial reactions.

The draft proposal covers about 30 different issues for reviving currently stalled multilateral trade talks and follows a flurry of proposals from all quarters, rich and poor, among the 146-strong WTO membership.

With regard to state aid for farmers, the text calls for limits on certain types of support.

For tariff cuts, meanwhile, it retains a suggestion put forward last month by the EU and the United States calling for a formula that would involve gentler average cuts for some products along with steeper reductions on higher tariffs for others.

The draft also proposes the capping of tariffs for developed countries but urges additional flexibility for “a very limited number of products”, an apparent concession to Japan and other food importing countries.

The latest text includes a provision responding to demands by China, which joined the trade body in 2001, for longer timeframes and lower tariff reduction commitments for recently acceded members.

Oxfam, the international relief agency, immediately denounced the draft text, saying it was a “betrayal” of the Doha Development Agenda, launched in 2001 in the Qatari capital and designed to put the concerns of developing countries at the heart of the three-year negotiations.

“This will do nothing to reduce current levels of subsidies, which are threatening the livelihoods of millions of farmers,” Oxfam representative, Celine Charveriat, told AFP.

She also hit out at the way the draft tackled a demand by four Central and West African cotton producing countries for an end to subsidies paid to their rivals by wealthier countries.

“The proposal on cotton is a slap in the face of the four African countries. It contains no commitment to reduce subsidies,” she added.

The text recognises the importance of cotton for development, but adopts language often used by US officials stating that cotton is a cross-sectoral issue that also embraces trade in fibres, textiles and clothing.