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Doubts greet opening of WTO summit

Questions remain over trade pact, help for poorer nations

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HONG KONG, China (CNN) -- Trade officials from nearly 150 nations are in Hong Kong this week to forge a global trade pact, but an air of uncertainty hangs over the latest meeting of the World Trade Organization.

Doubts about the progress of an international trade agreement, how much has been accomplished to help poorer nations and even the WTO itself persist as trade leaders meet in this special free-market Chinese enclave.

So many challenges face the WTO summit that opens Tuesday that trade officials and economic analysts already are saying expectations should remain low over any deals brokered at the Hong Kong summit. (Full story)

The Hong Kong summit follows WTO meetings in Seattle, United States (1999) and Cancun, Mexico (2003) that saw little substantive agreement on a trade pact.

"We did not have a successful ministerial meeting in Cancun and to have two failed ministerial meetings in a row is going to destroy the credibility of the multilateral system," said John Tsang, chairman of the WTO Conference. "If we miss this time, it's going to be years before we can come back to this."

Still, negotiators hope to lay the groundwork while in Hong Kong to establish a global trade deal sometime next year.

Rich-poor divide

The WTO's member nations have debated for years the best way to promote free and fair trade, something the World Bank says could add $300 billion to the global economy.

The current round of WTO talks -- the "Doha Round" that was launched in 2001 in the Qatari capital, was organized to address the concerns of poorer nations. On Monday, Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz and the European Union urged leaders at the WTO summit to pass a pact that helps poorer nations. (Full story)

The major issues at the Hong Kong summit include opening farming and service industries to international competition, analysts say. (The issues)

Wealthy countries such as the United States and United Kingdom want developing nations to open telecommunications, tourism and banking to international companies.

"If markets deregulate, that will help us expand in those markets, and again, if there will be further adjustments and deregulations to markets, that generally means an opening up of the economy and basically means the economy will grow as a result," said Mike Smith, president and CEO of HSBC bank.

But developing nations like India want wealthier countries to cut the billions of dollars allocated for farm subsidies. Poorer countries say their farmers cannot compete against subsidized industries.

The United States says it will cut subsidies if other nations follow suit. But the European Union so far isn't budging. India and Brazil, for their part, say they'll cooperate, but only if richer nations do the same.

"The WTO has now become a platform for quarrels," said Wang Kangmao of the East China University of Politics and Law. "People are now frustrated and are simply taking their regional view. So there is nothing leftover for the WTO."

Hong Kong prepares for thousands

Some 6,000 delegates are expected to attend the conference, along with 2,000 non government organization members and 3,000 journalists.

Authorities also expect as many as 10,000 protesters on the streets. On Sunday, about 4,000 activists held a peaceful march through downtown, chanting slogans and holding up banners that read, ''Stop the WTO'' and ''Our World is Not for Sale.'' Organized protests also are scheduled for Tuesday and on Sunday, the days the summit opens and concludes.

The WTO gatherings tend to be a flashpoint for violence, often when activists are confronted by riot police.

Two years ago at Cancun, protesters cut through metal barricades, battled with police and threatened to storm the meeting hall. One Korean farmer stabbed himself to death.

At the summit in Seattle, five days of riots inflicted millions of dollars of damage to the city. Police arrested 500 people.

Hong Kong authorities have set up a variety of security precautions, blocking off access to roads near the conference site, setting up barricades and enclosing pedestrian walkways in nets.

The Associated Press reported that local authorities have glued bricks into the sidewalks to prevent protesters from pulling them up and throwing them.

South Korean activists, known for joining in fierce battles with riot police and for dramatic gestures including committing suicide to highlight their causes, warned they planned to escalate their protests as the WTO meeting progresses. (Full story)

CNN's Eunice Yoon contributed to this report.