MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Brazil fears failure in the WTO Cancun round.

Brazil fears that the coming World Trade Organization meeting scheduled for next week in Mexico could end as happened with the 1999 Seattle summit, as one of the worst trade round failures ever, according to Ambassador Colodoaldo Hugueney.

"Indeed there's a serious risk of a new Seattle", indicated Mr. Hugueney who is Brazil's leading trade negotiator in the WTO.

The risk that Cancun might end as Seattle, without an agreement or a final release, comes from the fact that "absolutely nothing has happened during the last eighteen months regarding development or agriculture agreements or understandings".

Since the last WTO summit in Doha when it was decided that development and agriculture are the priorities, no advances have been reached particularly regarding agriculture that Brazil considers vital.

The big clash as has been for the last decades will be between the developing countries exporters of agriculture commodities and the United States and European resistance to eliminate subsidies and farm protectionism.

"Negotiations will be particularly complex and nerve racking because of the deadline", added Ambassador Hugueney.

Last week Brazil together with India and China as leaders of a group of twenty countries, G 20, presented an agriculture liberalization counter proposal to an earlier proposal from the United States and the European Union.

According to the Brazilian press this document is "the maximum concession" Brazil is prepared to concede.