European and Latin American negotiators are close to a deal that could see the end of long-running banana disputes, it has been reported.
The two sides have agreed to lower EU import tariffs to €114 euros ($179) per tonne by 2016, after an initial drop to €148 in 2009, down from €176 euros per tonne at the moment.
The figure is slightly lower than a compromise of 116 euros proposed by WTO director-general Pascal Lamy, who has acted as a mediator in the dispute.
The deal will also feature a "peace clause", under which the Latin American countries would promise not to reopen the case in return for the lower tariff.
Latin American banana producers have, over the years, successfully challenged the EU's banana import regime before the World Trade Organisation (WTO), on the grounds that it discriminates against them in favour of African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries
A spokesman for EU trade commissioner Peter Mandelson said “very substantial progress” had been made on bananas.
But representatives of banana exporters in the former European colonies in Africa, the Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) group said the deal was unacceptable in its current form.
The agreement would have to be signed by the EU and 11 countries, from Central and South America (Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru and Venezuela), as well as the US.
The latest round of WTO talks began on July 21 and is likely to stretch into the middle of this week.
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