MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Commonwealth leaders to warn rich nations on world trade

Commonwealth leaders will warn rich nations this week that failure to reach a new global trade deal would signal to developing countries they do not care about poverty and could undermine democracy in poorer nations.

The heads of government of the 53-member association of mostly former British colonies will gather in Malta for a summit this week, just three weeks before global trading powers meet in Hong Kong to try to thrash out a deal to boost world trade.

In an interview with Reuters, Commonwealth Secretary-General Don McKinnon said the challenge was to "put some muscle" into the four-year-old trade talks, aimed at boosting poor nations' access to world markets but deadlocked over agriculture.

"The US and European Union must step up to the plate much more formidably and show they are prepared to give ground," McKinnon said. "Not to do so would be a signal that we don't really care about poverty, and I think our leaders will want to be quite powerful on that issue ... When 53 countries say quite emphatically this must happen, you hope it creates momentum elsewhere in the world," he added.

Although the Commonwealth wields no political power, members include Britain and Canada, two of the Group of Seven richest nations, India, the world's biggest democracy, and other major countries including Malaysia, Nigeria and South Africa.

About 1.8 billion people, 30 percent of the world's population, live in the 53 Commonwealth states, which make up about a third of the 148-nation World Trade Organisation (WTO).

Developing countries got almost nothing from the last trade round and had been promised more this time, McKinnon said, "but the signs of them getting anything look pretty remote".

Global trade negotiators have said differences are too deep to settle on a blueprint for a new WTO agreement in Hong Kong, but that a deal may be secured before the talks' final deadline at the end of 2006.

The EU is under pressure to respond to a US proposal to slash farm subsidies, while rich nations demand poorer countries make concessions on trade in manufactured goods and services.

McKinnon argued a trade deal was important for world democracy and security, because people would question their political systems if they remained in poverty.

"If countries do not benefit from democracy, democracy comes under challenge," he said. "When you get all the democratic institutions right and you're still not getting a development dividend, you are going to question democracy."

McKinnon said British Prime Minister Tony Blair had a key role to play in trying to persuade EU states, particularly France, to limit their demands.

France has been the most vocal member of the 25-member EU in resisting further deep cuts in the bloc's farm programmes and tariffs as part of a new world trade deal.

Blair, who has made tackling African poverty a priority of his presidency of the Group of Eight industrialised nations this year, has long argued for a comprehensive trade deal but it seems unlikely he will be able to convince France to back down.

Commonwealth leaders will also discuss how technology can help development and tolerance ? the official theme of the two-yearly meeting ? and how respect for human rights can help eliminate terrorism. Questions on the status of Pakistan's and Zimbabwe's Commonwealth membership may also be raised. (BAH)