ISLAMABAD, Dec 24: The sixth WTO Hong Kong ministerial conference, which addressed only a fraction of the major issues, was mainly an effort to avoid another Cancun-style failure. These views were expressed by Pakistan’s Ambassador to WTO Dr Manzoor Ahmed and other participants of a round table on ‘WTOs Sixth Ministerial Conference and Pakistan’ held here on Saturday. The round table was organized by the Institute of Policy Studies.

They, however, said the conference ended with modest visible progress that could not be termed insignificant. “The conference gave an impetus to talks and it would help in furthering the July Package framework. If the Doha round concludes successfully, there will be substantial gains for countries such as Pakistan,” the participants said.

Mr Manzoor said while it was agreed by the developed countries particularly the EU to abolish exports subsidies, the other two major pillars of global agriculture trade negotiations — domestic support and market access — were left out.

He made it clear that Pakistani exporters could have been doing much better if the US and EU had not subsidized their farm products, particularly cotton, rice and dairy items and our farmers would certainly gain if the subsidies were abolished.

“Our cotton and rice farmers could gain $300-500 million and $200-300 million additional income, respectively,” he said.

The ambassador noted that in the ongoing round and the conference, non-agriculture market access (NAMA) assumed the position of an area of major interest for Pakistan, as our exports were primarily of industrial goods.

He said Pakistan was at the centre stage in NAMA negotiations as its commerce minister Humayun Akhtar Khan was facilitator in these talks. It was an honour for Pakistan as only three ministers from 150 member countries were selected for this job, he added.

Dr Manzoor was of the view that the Swiss Formula was not as complicated as it was being stated. As Pakistan’s bound rate was much higher than the applied rate, it was hardly going to loose anything. Despite the understanding on Swiss Formula, we have been able to safeguard our interests, he added.