GENEVA, Oct 11: Key developing nations in the World Trade Organization said on Tuesday they would now unveil their own plan to jump-start talks on tearing down global trade barriers after a two-pronged EU-US initiative ran into stiff opposition.
The G20, which groups WTO heavyweights such as Brazil, China, India and South Africa, said on Tuesday it was honing its counter-proposal for release in coming days.
“The numbers that the G20 will be putting on the table will imply real cuts” in payouts to farmers in rich countries, said Celso Amorim, Brazil’s foreign minister.
On Monday, US trade chief Rob Portman and his European Union counterpart Peter Mandelson released new plans to cut support for their farmers.
They billed their proposals as a means of breaking a deadlock in the WTO’s Doha Round talks, amid gloom over efforts to draft a multilateral accord cutting subsidies, customs duties and other barriers to world trade.
The 148 nations in the WTO are edging towards a December treaty-drafting meeting in Hong Kong with crucial issues still unresolved after four years of foundering talks.—AFP
