Developing countries with sometwo-thirds of the world's farmers, including Brazil, China andIndia, put forward a plan today for deep cuts in farmsubsidies but rich states dismissed the call as "nothing new."
The proposal, aimed at countering a much-criticised jointEuropean Union and US scheme, was put to the 146-state WorldTrade Organisation (WTO) which is racing to conclude some dealsbefore a key ministerial meeting next month.
At the same time, a number of key farm importing countries,including Japan, Switzerland and Taiwan, with highly protectedfarm sectors, said that they could not accept any rapid changesto current rules.
The developing country plan, backed by 15 mainly exportingstates, principally from Latin America, sought more stringentcuts in domestic support programmes than those offered by theEU and the United States, the two biggest subsidisers.
It also said that rich states should commit themselves to"eliminate" all export subsidies, with special considerationbeing given to those products that were of particular concernto developing countries.
On import tariffs, the third key area or "pillar" of thefarm trade talks, the developing countries sought to place thebiggest responsibility for cuts on the rich, with poorer statesbeing able to reduce less and more slowly.
But EU chief negotiator Mr Peter Carl told journalists thatthe plan, which sought to answer point-for-point the EU-UStext, was a "repetition of well-known positions."
"There is nothing new in this," he said.