WTO breakdown hurts developing world: NZ

WELLINGTON: The breakdown of global trade  liberalisation talks is a lost opportunity which will particularly hurt developing countries, New Zealand Trade Minister Phil Goff said on Tuesday.

The collapse of talks in Geneva on Monday among six key players from the 149-nation World Trade Organisation led its chief Pascal Lamy to recommend an indefinite freeze in the stalled negotiations.

The members of the G6 group -- Australia, Brazil, India, Japan, the European Union and the United States -- had lost an opportunity to help create 'a fairer, more prosperous and stable world', Goff said.

"The developing world needs major cuts in the subsidies and export incentives that wealthy countries pay to their producers for there to be a level playing field," he said in a statement.

"And they need cuts in tariff barriers which block access to markets in the developed world and also other developing countries."

He said concluding the Doha Round of trade liberalisation talks would have produced gains in trade and living standards for all countries. Goff said it was clear what was needed to achieve success.

"Within the G6, the US needs to offer bigger cuts in domestic subsidies, the EU, Japan and India need to put forward better offers on agricultural market access, and the large developing countries, Brazil and India, need to offer larger cuts in non-agricultural tariffs."

While the Doha Round would not now be completed by its deadline at the end of this year, it should not be pronounced dead, he said.

The Uruguay Round of trade liberalisation in the early 1990s survived similar crises and went on to a successful conclusion. "It is important not to lose the significant progress which has been made in the round to date. This continues to provide a solid platform for eventual resumption of the negotiations," Goff said.