The glacial pace at which developed countries have moved to cut their agricultural subsidies is mainly to blame for the World Trade Organization's (WTO) failure to meet the end of April deadline for trade talks.

But complaining about the missed opportunity will not help deliver the development promise set by the Doha round.

Director-General Pascal Lamy announced on Monday that the WTO had to abandon plans to hold a major ministerial meeting this week. It is now time for action. All members of the global trading body should work together to press for a rapid termination of trade-distorting subsidies for agriculture in the developed economies.

As the first round of multilateral trade negotiations after the establishment of the WTO, the Doha round trade negotiations aim to further liberalize the world trade market, particularly giving developing nations bigger benefits from trade.

With the Doha development round set to conclude by the end of this year, time is particularly tight for trade negotiators from all WTO member economies.

The end of April deadline to agree on precise formulas for cutting farm and industrial tariffs is a crucial step towards making the entire Doha round a success.

By missing it, the WTO is exposed to even higher risks now of losing a rare chance to boost the global economy and lift millions out of poverty worldwide.

The necessity to lower trade barriers across all sectors, with particular emphasis on developing countries, has proved self-evident.

Yet, out of shortsighted protection for domestic agricultural interest groups, both the United States and the European Union have been dragging their feet on removing huge trade-distorting agricultural subsidies.

The existence of such huge farming subsidies in developed countries, in the first place, was an unfair stopgap arrangement poorer developing countries have had to accept to integrate themselves into the world economy.

After reaping numerous benefits from the tremendously expanded global market, rich countries are obliged to make concessions on farm aids now.

It will be unacceptable if the WTO allows the Doha development round to be derailed time and again by such shortsighted protectionism in rich countries.

Let all WTO members wake to the urgency of the Doha round and fix the so-called differences between rich nations on farming subsidies, an issue on which advocates of fair and free trade agree.

(China Daily April 26, 2006)

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