LONDON - The G7 finance ministers have stated that there has to be some progress at the Hong Kong meeting later this month if trade talks were to bear any fruit. The ministerial meeting called for all sides to be pragmatic in their approach so that the Doha trade round could be carried forward.
The meeting which was held lat weekend was attended by representatives from major industrial nations. In the meeting Brazil, India and China agreed to be more flexible in their approach if the United States and the European Union agreed to cut down the agricultural subsidies that they currently offer to farmers. Gordon Brown, the UK Chancellor of the Exchequer said that the willingness of these nations to change was a big step forward.
"The Hong Kong ministerial in ten days will be a critical step and the opportunity must be seized to make progress. We urge all participants to maintain a high level of ambition and to make significant progress on market access in agriculture, industrial products and services," said a statement released by the ministers and central bankers after their deliberations Mr. Brown said that the ball was now in Europe's and America's court to see that they did not stall the proceedings particularly after this offer from Brazil and India.
"We do believe this has been a meeting where we have shown that the world wishes to see the trade talks in Hong Kong coming to a successful conclusion," he commented.
The offer to be more flexible from Brazil and India came as a surprise since both countries had earlier adopted rigid stands arguing that the agricultural subsidy issue be sorted out first.
Meanwhile, Canadian Finance Minister Ralph Goodale has called for some action from Brussels and Washington ahead of the Hong Kong talks, "The Common Agricultural Policy of the European Union and the Farm Bill of the United States of America need to be radically altered," he said at the end of the G7 meeting.
Posted
on : Sun, 04 Dec 2005 20:20 GMT | Politics News
By : Mark Richardson
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