Johannesburg — SA's chief trade negotiator, Xavier Carim, yesterday backed this week's warning from World Trade Organisation (WTO) director-general Pascal Lamy that the Doha round of trade discussions involving developing countries would not be concluded by the planned deadline next year unless there were "real exchanges between members".

The Doha round -- under discussion since November 2001 -- is meant to open up markets in rich countries to allow developing countries to benefit from trade. But talks have stalled as rich countries refuse to stop subsidising their farmers, which depresses world prices and blocks developing countries from exploiting their competitive advantages of land and climate.

Reuters reported on Tuesday that Lamy told the WTO's general council that although some progress was being made on technical issues in the Doha round, there needed to be a serious acceleration of negotiations to reach a deal before the middle of next year.

Carim yesterday told reporters in Sandton that SA's concern was that, eight years on, the mandate of the original Doha talks on achieving development objectives had been eroded. "The rules that are now emerging from negotiations are not showing substantial and meaningful reform," he said. "There are proposed reforms, but not what would constitute substantial transformation of agricultural trade."

Talks in the past few months had not indicated enough flexibility on the part of the developed countries to conclude a deal by next year, before the US and Brazilian elections, which meant an agreement was unlikely before 2011, he said.

SA's most critical concern was not agriculture but the industrial tariff negotiations, where it was being asked to make more substantial cuts than any other WTO member. "That is neither fair nor developmental," Carim said. In talks over the past two years there had been some recognition that SA needed substantial accommodation but the details had not been clarified.

SA also had lesser objections to other aspects of the Doha negotiations, including antidumping duties and fishery subsidies, he said. But, like other developing countries, it was committed to continuing the talks because it believed the WTO rules were important in providing certainty in international trade.