GENEVA (Kyodo) Japan is seeking "flexibility" during World Trade Organization negotiations on the number of key agricultural products that can be exempted from sharp tariff cuts, agriculture minister Hirotaka Akamatsu said.
After holding talks with WTO Director General Pascal Lamy on Monday, Akamatsu said they discussed sensitive products on which wealthy economies could impose high tariffs even after the liberalization of trade to prevent an influx of products from the developing world.
Lamy proposed last year that rich members of the organization be allowed to designate 4 percent of their total farm products as sensitive products in an attempt to secure a breakthrough in the stalled Doha Round of global trade liberalization talks.
Japan, widely seen as attempting to protect its domestic farmers from cheap imports, has said the WTO must be flexible in determining the number of sensitive products, proposing a ratio of at least 8 percent.
Lamy told Akamatsu he will clarify by March the issues that must be addressed to conclude the eight-year-old Doha negotiations by next December, according to Japanese officials.
The meeting came as trade representatives from the 153 member economies of the WTO gathered in Geneva for three days of ministerial talks.
Akamatsu also met ministers from the Group of 10 net food importers on the sidelines of the talks, confirming with them that the WTO should be careful in how farm tariffs will be cut.
From Japan, Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Masayuki Naoshima will also attend the talks.
"I will stress the need to successfully conclude (the Doha Round) next year," Naoshima said before departing from Tokyo. "It is important to conclude the negotiations by overcoming the difficulties."
Naoshima also said he is scheduled to hold talks with Indian Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma on the sidelines of the WTO ministerial meeting.
