Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2002. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
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Associated Press - November 15, 2002
As 25 members of the World Trade Organization met in a hotel at Sydney's Olympic Park, hundreds of protesters clashed with police outside. At least seven people were arrested after police foiled attempts by protesters to storm the hotel.
Police also arrested 19 people Thursday following street protests in downtown Sydney that saw scuffling with police. One journalist was injured.
The WTO is trying to move ahead with a new trade liberalization package launched last year in Doha that was billed the "development round" -- a concession toward poor nations who complained they had been left out of crucial trade decisions in the past.
The divide between the world's haves and have-nots proved impossible to bridge in a 1999 meeting in Seattle that collapsed with no deal as street riots raged outside.
Providing affordable medicines to impoverished nations where people are dying of diseases easily treatable in the West is key to the current WTO talks, but pharmaceutical companies in wealthy nations are insisting on safeguards that will protect their markets for drugs they've spent millions of dollars to develop.
The ministers reached a "broad consensus" on the drugs package Friday, a U.S. trade official said, speaking on condition he not by identified by name.
A European official said two areas that will require more intense talks are defining which diseases are to be covered and which countries can benefit from the cheaper drugs.
All sides are in agreement that HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria will be covered, but some wealthy countries with major drug interests have balked at including other diseases such as cancer and diabetes, the European official said, also on condition of anonymity.
Ministers are discussing compromise provisions for including future epidemics that might hit poor countries, the official said.
In addition to agreeing Friday that the WTO must take its Dec. 31 deadline on the drugs package as a serious priority, the negotiators appeared to be drawing closer on some of the technical details, the EU official said.
"There is no obstacle to find a solution, but we need sufficient guarantees for both sides," the official said.
The trade officials were meeting informally and hoped to build consensus on drug issues that could be passed along to the entire WTO in Geneva, which must be in agreement on any new trade pact.
WTO Director-General Supachai Panitchpakdi said there likely will be a need for more such informal sessions before the WTO ministers hold a meeting next September in Cancun, Mexico, but he played down suggestions that the talks launched in Doha were not going smoothly.
Parties involved in complex negotiations are rarely happy before they can see the end result, Mr. Supachai told reporters Friday morning.
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