UN agency calls for resumption of trade talks following Cancún collapse

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) today called for informal contacts to resume trade talks after Sunday’s collapse of a major conference, declaring a fair and open world market to be in the interests of rich and poor alike but stressing that developing states must have a better chance to sell their produce.

"The collapse of the WTO meeting in Cancún should not be the end of trade talks in an international framework," FAO said in a news release on the ministerial meeting in the Mexican resort of the 146-nation World Trade Organization, which deadlocked over issues ranging from agricultural subsidies by rich countries to investment policies in poor countries.

"Much is at stake for developed and developing countries regarding a level playing field in world trade. It is time for governments to recognise that a fair and open multilateral trading system is in the social and economic interests of their entire societies, rich and poor alike," FAO said.

"If we want to improve the living conditions of millions of people in developing countries and reduce the number of more than 800 million chronically hungry people, these countries need investment to improve their productive capacity and competitivity, but also a better chance to sell their products on the world market,” it added.

FAO called it "regrettable" that in Cancún countries could not find a fair agreement on agricultural trade issues.

"There are no viable alternatives to the multilateral trade talks, and when the psychological constraints of the forthcoming national political events are removed, countries should consider returning to the negotiating table before the momentum is lost," the agency said.

The Cancún talks ran aground over issues ranging from the speedy elimination of agricultural subsidies by rich countries that undercut farmers in the world’s poorest nations to the so-called Singapore issues – trade and investment, competition policy, transparency in government procurement – which developing nations felt might interfere with their domestic policies.