Rich and poor nations are closing ranks on cuts in import tariffs and farm subsidies and agreement could revive stalled negotiations on a new treaty to further liberalize global commerce, a senior official at the World Trade Organization (WTO) said Monday.
Deputy Director General Harsha Vardhan Singh said he expects a substantive outcome when negotiators from WTO member nations meet in Geneva next month to revive the deadlocked trade talks, named the Doha round.
Although most countries have said the latest proposals form a good basis to resume negotiations, they still have to thrash out the details.
Meanwhile, the collapse of global trade talks could thwart efforts by poor African countries to curtail cotton subsidies and capitalize on a higher world price for the crop, a global cotton organization (ICAC) said Monday.
If a new global trade deal can compel rich nations to reduce generous supports for cotton farmers, the International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC) expects global prices to climb. Without any such supports, the world price would rise by around 10 percent, ICAC believes.
ICAC believes that without a Doha deal Chad, Mali, Benin and Burkina Faso which already grapple with inferior farm technology and poor trade infrastructure, will remain relegated to their weak trading position.
Kilde: www.worldbank.org
