Rich states must end agriculture subsidies to bring free trade to poor – UN official

With world trade talks opening in Cancún, Mexico, today, a senior United Nations official has called on rich nations to eliminate the estimated billion dollars a day in agricultural subsidies that “grossly undermines” the future of millions of people in the least developed countries.

Representatives at the 146-member World Trade Organization (WTO) ministerial meeting should “take concrete steps in the common endeavour to overcome poverty and underdevelopment amongst the teeming millions of the most disadvantaged and vulnerable countries in the world,” Under-Secretary-General Anwarul Chowdhury said in a message.

Mr. Chowdhury, UN High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States, mentioned cotton in Africa as being prominent among the subsidized products and welcomed a joint proposal by Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad and Mali to establish at Cancún a mechanism for phasing out support for cotton production in developed countries.

“It is high time that something meaningful and worthwhile is done at Cancún and the on-going Doha Round of trade negotiations in that regard,” he said, referring to the many years of efforts by the least developed countries to win greater market access and special provisions to reverse their marginalization in the realm of world trade.

Mr. Chowdhury added that a recent series of meetings on the least developed countries all emphasized the importance of “global partnership for enhancing the role of trade in development and transforming it into a powerful engine for growth and poverty eradication.”