Global trade talks open with call to fight poverty, diversify economies

NAIROBI — Global trade talks opened Tuesday with host Kenya highlighting their role in combating poverty, and urging African nations to diversify their economies.

War-torn Afghanistan and Ebola-ravaged Liberia are set to join the World Trade Organisation (WTO) as it holds a ministerial conference in the Kenyan capital Nairobi, its first such meeting on African soil.

Leading experts have doubted the  meeting's chances of breathing new life into current trade talks, but Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta still called the gathering "historic and crucial".

"This conference will boost trade and investment, create employment and ultimately contribute to poverty eradication," he said in a welcome message.

He also stressed the need for African countries to diversify their economies.

"National, regional and multilateral policy choices that we make will matter," Kenyatta added. "The choices and positions we take will have consequences."

Security is tight for the conference, with some 6,000 delegates in Nairobi.

'Breakthrough seems unlikely' 

The four-day Nairobi meeting comes two years after ministers from WTO member countries reached a landmark deal in Bali on overhauling global customs procedures.

The 2013 pact was the first multilateral agreement concluded by the WTO since its inception in 1995, and also the first concrete progress since the Doha round of trade liberalisation talks began. 

"We took 18 years to deliver our first multilateral agreement in Bali, that's way too long, we can't wait another 18 years to deliver again," WTO chief Roberto Azevedo told reporters Tuesday.

But there are few signs that countries will be able build on the momentum gained in Bali to carve out even a limited deal in Nairobi.

"I think if we go out of Nairobi with renewed confidence and with a common vision for the future that will be a fundamental achievement," Azevedo said.

Insiders say negotiators will focus on trying to nail down a partial deal focused on agriculture export competition and trade development in the world's poorest nations, but admit the chances of succeeding are shaky at best. 

Agriculture, export subsidy deals? 

"It will attempt to deliver on the elusive agreements of the Doha Development Agenda, and deal with controversies over agricultural subsidies and market access for developing countries," the European Centre for Development Policy Management (ECDPM) think tank said.

"However, despite previous efforts, scant progress has been made and a breakthrough at Nairobi seems unlikely," it added.

WTO Deputy Director David Shark was more upbeat, saying it was hoped that deals would be struck on agriculture, export subsidies and food security, and that there would be a debate on the nature of international trade.

"There is a very broad issue that members are discussing: how do we conduct trade negotiations in the future," he said.

"Do we continue in the same vein as we have under the umbrella of the Doha round? Or do we look for new and different ways? That is a very contentious issue amongst our members," Shark added.

Kenyan Foreign Minister Amina Mohammed, who is chairing the conference, has warned that a failure to strike a deal, requiring every member's agreement, would raise questions about the negotiating role of the WTO.

"We will need to either fix it, agree on a new way of negotiating or maybe agree to remove it," she said.

Ceremonies for the accession of Liberia are expected to be held on December 16, with the accession of Afghanistan a day later, the WTO said.