Trade ministers from four cotton-growing African nations will meet top United States officials next week for talks expected to focus on a stalled world trade round, the agriculture department said on Wednesday.
Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns and US Trade Representative Susan Schwab will meet the trade ministers from Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad and Mali on Wednesday, said United States Department of Agriculture spokesperson Terri Teuber.
The ministers will be in the United States, the world’s largest cotton exporter, for an international conference on cotton, which is a staple crop for some West and Central African nations.
Teuber said the US and African officials were expected to discuss options for reviving agricultural negotiations that have been frozen since July, when the World Trade Organisation suspended the Doha Round of world trade talks.
Debate over tariffs and subsidies for farm goods has fuelled strife since the Doha talks were launched in 2001. Because cotton is such a contentious issue, the WTO set up a unique subcommittee on cotton in 2004.
African countries have long complained that their farmers can’t compete with the United States, which spent over $4-billion in cotton subsidies in 2004/05.
The four African nations whose ministers visit next week spearheaded a proposal to eliminate subsidies from the United States, the European Union and others. They have also demanded poor nations be paid for lost profits.
But the United States maintains its subsidies are not to blame for economic difficulties in cotton-producing African countries. The US reformed its cotton subsidy programme after losing a WTO challenge to Brazil. – Sapa