Developing countries grouped in the G20 said on Thursday that the European Union and United States should do more to reduce agricultural subsidies but noted positive signs in talks on global trade liberalisation.
The G20 had made propositions to push talks further along, ”but the problem is still in the agricultural area, were we are waiting for a gesture by the European Union and the United States,” Argentina’s minister for international trade Rafael Bielsa said.
”We are not protectionist in these domains, they are the protectionists,” he stressed after a meeting of the group, which also includes Brazil, China and India.
”Tomorrow we may have a clearer idea of the American and European proposals, and we’ll see if its is possible to have a general framework for talks by July, particularly in agriculture, because if we do not move on this issue, everything will be blocked,” Bielsa said.
On Friday, 28 ministers from World Trade Organisation (WTO) member countries are to try and jump start trade talks that broke down at a conference in Cancun, Mexico in September.
”In a general way we put the blame on the rich countries who don’t want to give away their agricultural subsidies and continue to protect their agriculture,” Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim said.
Negotiations got a boost earlier this week with a proposition by the European Commission to eliminate agriculture export subsidies worth three billion dollars (2,54-billion euros) if other WTO members made similar efforts.
Amorim acknowledged the G20 had seen ”some positive signs” in the commission’s proposal, although the group did not completely accept the plan because it did not reduce subsidies sufficiently and managed to continue protecting the dairy and sugar sectors.
He told reporters: ”We want to avoid the temptation to negotiate through the press, because I think we’re at a crucial stage where we can really make advances.” – Sapa-AFP