The world trade summit opens here today under threat from tens of thousands of protesters who have pledged to disrupt negotiations which they see as the latest step in "globalisation".
For the next four days, ministers and officials from the 135 member countries of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) will try to agree on the agenda for the next round of trade negotiations. After Seattle, the negotiations will move back to the WTO headquarters in Geneva, where they are supposed to be completed inside three years.
About 30 other countries that are not yet members of the WTO, including China and Russia, will be observers at the summit. They hope to conclude their accession negotiations early in the next century.
The main goal of the talks will be to remove obstacles to trade in agriculture and in services covering areas such as finance and telecommunications. But the agenda is also expected to deal with controversial areas like working conditions in developing countries, the environment, e-commerce, anti-dumping rules and investment.
Ireland will be represented by Mr Tom Kitt, Minister of State for Trade. The Irish Farmers' Association (IFA) has a high-powered delegation here, headed by its president, Mr Tom Parlon, to observe the negotiations.
The IFA has expressed concern that concessions made by the EU on farm export subsidies will damage Irish agriculture. The US is calling for the "elimination" of these subsidies, which total about $7 billion (€6.94 billion).
Mr Parlon has also said he is very concerned that Ireland's fate at the talks is being left in the hands of a junior minister.
In response to the criticism that the Government was not taking agriculture seriously enough in the trade talks, Mr Kitt said last night: "Mr Parlon's comments are disappointing and, frankly, not very constructive.
"I have already met the IFA representatives and they are aware of the position the Government is taking, along with our EU colleagues, in these negotiations. I have also agreed to stay in touch with their delegation here in Seattle and to keep them informed of how matters are progressing."
Yesterday, Mr Kitt signed an agreement in Seattle committing the Government to provide more than £2 million (€2.54 million) to fund a new WTO legal advice centre in Geneva for the world's least developed countries. The EU Commission, which is responsible for trade negotiations, will be represented by Mr Pascal Lamy (trade), Mr Franz Fischler (agriculture) and Mr David Byrne (consumer affairs and health). Mr Fischler said after arriving in Seattle that the EU is "ready to negotiate substantially about agriculture - otherwise I would have stayed at home". President Clinton is due to arrive today to address the summit, but media attention may focus on the huge protest march taking place at the same time. The march is organised by the the main US labour federation, the AFL-CIO, but will also attract protesters from about 500 organisations from the US and around the world.
The week here is being dubbed the "Battle in Seattle" and the "Seattle Carnival".
The protesters have varied agendas, but in general they accuse the WTO of promoting trade at the expense of developing countries, workers' rights, consumer safety and the environment. Development agencies such as Trocaire are against burdening poorer countries with new trade concessions at this stage and argue for consolidation of the present system first.
Some of the more radical groups aim to disrupt and cause the abandonment of the summit if possible, but a large police presence will try to keep them from getting too close to the international convention centre where the summit is taking place.
