London, Sept 13: Britain's Trade and Industry Secretary Patricia Hewitt has said she was "cautiously optimistic" that a deal to assist the world's poorest countries would emerge from this week's World Trade Organisation gathering in Cancun in Mexico. Hewitt, who is representing Britain at the talks, said yesterday that Europe had taken a big step towards fairer trade with a decision to cut agriculture subsidies in June, and called on other developed countries to follow suit.
She was critical of US President George W Bush's decision to boost subsidies to American farmers in his Farm Act.
But she acknowledged that there was fault on both sides of the Atlantic, and that concessions would be needed from both the European Union and the United States to achieve a more equitable trading system. Speaking from Cancun, Hewitt told BBC Television, "I am cautiously optimistic this weekend. I think there is a real understanding.
"We can't afford to fail and above all we can't afford to let down the developing countries."
She added, "The fact of the matter is that both Europe and the US have enormous subsidies to our farmers and it is doing terrible damage to very poor farmers in poor countries." "We have all got to change on this. In the CAP (common agricultural policy) reform package that we agreed in June in the (EU) Agricultural Council, we have committed ourselves to cutting our export subsidies by 75 per cent and our trade-distorting domestic subsidies by 70 per cent as well," Hewitt said.
"So Europe absolutely understands that we have got to change on this and we need the rest of the developed world to do the same," she said.
Third world farmers complain that massive subsidies to farmers in the developed world including the EU's common agricultural policy make it impossible for them to compete on the global market. Bureau Report