Brazil reconvened the "G20" group of leading developing countries on Thursday to forge a common strategy ahead of next week's World Trade Organisation talks on the stalled Doha trade round.
It will try to use the gathering as evidence that the group, which it helped launch before the WTO's Cancún meeting in September, has not fallen apart in spite of the departure of three Latin American countries, apparently under pressure from the US.
The G20 demands for cuts in wealthy countries' farm aid were blamed by some industrialised nations, particularly the US, for the collapse of the Cancún meeting.
Included in the 19 countries that are attending this week's gathering in Braslia are China, India, South Africa, Egypt as well as three new African members - Nigeria, Zimbabwe and Tanzania. Ecuador, which had formally withdrawn from the group, will be attending as an observer.
Braslia now says the group is called "G20" not because of the number of its members but because it was formed on August 20, just before the Cancún meeting.
During the two-day meeting the G20 is to study the offer by the European Union to phase out export subsidies if other countries agree to end all forms of export support. In its proposal the EU warned, however, that it would accept only limited cuts to farm aid. Pascal Lamy, the EU trade commissioner, and Supachai Panitchpakdi, the WTO director-general, will also attend.
“We need signals of flexibility from various parts of the world. If there’s no flexibility there there will be no progress in Geneva,” Mr Panitchpakdi, said in reference to next week's meeting of WTO members. However, Brazil suggested this week that the EU proposal, at first glance, provided no breakthrough in the stalemate. "I read the document presented to the council by the [trade] commissioner and I didn't identify more flexibility on the agricultural front," said Clodoaldo Hugueney, under-secretary for economic affairs in the foreign ministry.
However, Brazil suggested this week that the EU proposal, at first glance, provided no breakthrough in the stalemate. "I read the document presented to the council by the [trade] commissioner and I didn't identify more flexibility on the agricultural front," said Clodaldo Hugueney, secretary-general of the foreign ministry.
"We are committed to helping break the stalemate but we are not prepared to participate in a negotiation that will not lead to the implementation of the Doha round mandate [for freer farm trade]," Mr Hugueney added.
The G20 may suggest relaunching negotiations in agriculture on the basis of a proposal by Luis Ernesto Derbez, Mexico's foreign minister, presented but never officially discussed in Cancún.
“It’s best to work with what we have. If we start from scratch, the Doha round will be delayed even further and we're already in overtime,” said Angel Villalobos, Mexico's undersecretary for International Trade Negotiations. Braslia said it had also invited Robert Zoellick, the US trade representative, and hoped he might attend a future meeting of the G20.
Brazil's leadership in the group is part of a more outspoken and non-aligned foreign policy of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the centre-left president elected in January. Sceptical of the chances of rich countries offering further concessions on reducing trade barriers, Mr Lula da Silva has stepped up trade ties with other developing nations, as was seen during his recent trips to the Middle East and Africa.