US trade representive Robert Zoellick called Wednesday on big developing countries to play their part in getting stalled global trade liberalisation talks off the ground.
"To take on the challenges of global trade, especially in the Doha negociations, we will need the support of the developing economies", Zoellick said at a press conference at the French senate.
Ministers from 28 countries are meeting here Thursday and Friday on the sidelines of the annual meeting of the Organsiation for Economic Cooperation and Development in a last chance effort to get the current so-called Doha round of free trade talks back on track by a self-imposed end July deadline.
Zoellick said that rich countries had done much to get their tariff barriers down and that now it was up to developing countries to do the same.
"We have already had a half-century of success lowering industrial tariffs -- mostly in the developed world. Nevertheless, important opportunities to open trade remain. And in the developing world, barriers remain very high. Tearing down those barriers must be a central element of the Doha agenda".
Ministers meeting here hope to agree by the end of July on the "modalities" -- the broad framework -- for the final burst of negotiations to conclude the Doha round by the end of the year.
The Doha round, which was launched in the Qatari capital in 2001, stalled after the collapse in September of ministerial level talks at a gathering in Cancun, Mexico owing largely to disputes over government aid to farmers in rich countries.
Negotiations got a boost earlier this week with a proposition from the European Commission to eliminate agriculture export subsidies worth three billion dollars (2.52 billion euros) if other WTO members made similar efforts.
Pointing to a similar proposal last year from the United States, Zoellick hinted it was now up to big developping countries belonging to the so-called G20 group to make concessions on the issue.
"In agriculture, as we are moving close to a package that would eliminate export subsidies and make deep cuts in other trade-distorting subsidies, the G20 has rejected a number of frameworks for opening agricultural markets in both developed and major developing countries without yet suggesting a proposal," he said.Agence France Presse:
