New Delhi: In a bid to push forward the stalled Doha Round trade talks, ministers from 149 members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) gathered in Hong Kong on Tuesday afternoon to open the Sixth Ministerial Conference.
India and the G-20 countries are pushing the European Union and the United States, to cut agriculture subsidies in exchange for greater market access for their non-agri products.
The meeting, attended by 5,800 delegates from WTO's 149 members and 2,100 representatives from non-governmental organisations at the Convention and Exhibition Center, would focus on the topics of the Doha Round.
These includes efforts to reduce farm subsidies and tariffs, liberalise service trade and provide economic aids to developing countries. The enormous amount of aid that farmers in developed countries are used to, will be a favourite topic in the meet.
The conference, the 6th in the 10-year life of the WTO, had initially aimed to agree a new draft trade treaty, but deep divisions between developed and developing countries over agriculture has pushed the deadline back.
The US and EU may find themselves on the backfoot as developing countries demand a level playing field.
Indian farmers feel farming can be rewarding if done intelligently and say the new face of Indian farming ? organic produce ? is much in demand. But developed countries don't want products from developing countries flooding Western markets at cheaper rates.
Consequently, farm products from developing countries like India face high entry tax in the US and EU.
Meanwhile, the meeting has drawn thousands of protesters, many of them angry at what they see as unfair demands being put on poorer countries by the rich, but so far there have been no reports of violence.
(With inputs from UNI)
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