By Suvendrini Kakuchi
TOKYO, Nov 8 2001 (IPS)

Japan, the world’s second richest economy, is poised to make a stand to protect its agricultural sector at the World Trade Organization (WTO) meeting that opens on Friday in Doha, Qatar. That position, analysts say will make developing countries unhappy.

Trade ministers and other delegates from the more than 140 members of the WTO will hold the Fourth Ministerial Meeting of the trade body on Nov 9-13, hoping to revive talks on liberalising trade and opening up markets.

Meeting under the threat of possible terrorist attacks, delegates however, are more concerned about the agenda, which has been a sore point among its members.

Eighty percent of the WTO membership is composed of developing countries, which are demanding better market access for their products. Developed countries, on the other hand, would like to push for freer trade, although they themselves are accused of sanctioning protectionist measures in their own backyards.

Liberalising agricultural markets, anti-dumping measures, and tightening of intellectual property rights are expected to be discussed at the summit, which takes place at a time of an economic slowdown and prospects for a recovery are nowhere in sight.

Despite a nudge from Washington to open up its agricultural market, Japan looks firm on protecting it from imports instead.

Japan is against treating farm products in the same manner as industrial goods in efforts to liberalise trade, said Akira Karasawa, head of the WTO office at the Minstry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.

This statement is seen by analysts as a sign of Japan’s reluctance to open up its uncompetitive agricultural market despite its official position as a champion of free trade.

To illustrate this, Japan and China failed to resolve on Thursday a trade dispute arising from import curbs on three farm imports from China — leeks, shiitake mushrooms and tatami rushes.

Tokyo imposed provisional curbs on the three products in April to protect domestic producers after a surge in imports. China retaliated by slapping 100 percent punitive tariffs on Japanese motor vehicles, air conditioners and mobile phones in June.

China is Japan’s largest trading partner in Asia, and its second after the United States. Two-way trade between the two Asian giants reached 80 billion U.S. dollars last year.

While Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koziumi is heralding a new reform movement to revitalise the domestic economy, experts point out, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party will resist efforts to open the agricultural sector, which is a major supporter of the party.

“Tokyo is under strong political pressure from domestic farmers to resist imports and the LDP is mindful of the mood,” says Hiroko Maeda of PHP Institute, a private think tank.

Aware of the dilemma it is facing, Tokyo announced this week Japan will take a flexible approach at the WTO Ministerial meeting on contentious issues like trade and investment.

“On investment, we have our differences with India but are hopeful that Doha will accommodate a very flexible stand to address concerns of the developing countries,” Japanese senior vice minister for economy, trade and industry Keiji Furuya said.

He added he was hopeful that both countries could arrive at an agreement on areas like investment and competition as well.

Japan is also sending signals that it sees the issue of ensuring the supply cheap drugs for HIV/AIDS and other infectious diseases to developing countries as an intellectual property rights issue.

Analysts point out that Japanese pharmaceuticals have no direct stake in the dispute stemming from costly patents held mostly by U.S. and Swiss firms but Tokyo fears a relaxation of the rules would affect other products, including industrial goods over which the Japanese are suffering from illegal copies.

Natsuko Kumasawa, spokesperson for Japan Food Safety Association, explains that activists see the WTO meeting not only as a trade issue but also in terms of security.

“We are against the liberalisation of Japan’s agricultural market mainly because we would like to protect consumers from products that could be dangerous to their health such as genetically modified food from the United States,” she explained.

Agricultural imports from the United States include Japanese staples such as soya bean and wheat flour, most of which is genetically modified products.

But, analysts point out, the growing resistance to agricultural liberalisation will be affecting Asia more than the United States in the future, mainly because of the price factor.

“Asian food products are so much cheaper than food produced locally or from other countries. If Japan is forced to import more from those countries, Japanese farmers will not be happy,” says Kumasawa.

Fresh vegetables from China and other parts of Asia are around 75 percent cheaper than similar products grown in Japan. If imports are allowed unchecked, the livelihood of Japanese farmers will suffer.

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