Bush calls for agricultural subsidies to end by 2010

GLENEAGLES, Scotland – US President George W. Bush threw his weight yesterday behind an abolition of government agricultural subsidies by 2010 but said their elimination should come through the World Trade Organisation rather than a Group of Eight summit under way here.

“We want to work with the EU (European Union) to rid our respective countries of agricultural subsidies,” Bush told reporters before the opening of talks here with counterparts from Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Russia. “The best place to do that is the Doha round (of WTO talks).I hope that by 2010 that the Doha round will achieve that objective.”The president was speaking alongside British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who is hosting the G8 summit after the pair had a breakfast meeting at the plush Gleneagles Hotel summit venue.Anti-poverty campaigners maintain that agricultural export subsidies allow European and US farmers to dump cheaper produce on African and world markets, thereby preventing African producers from competing fairly.Trade protectionism and subsidies in rich countries are estimated to cost sub-Saharan Africa close to two billion dollars a year, and economists have said that if African farmers had fair access to markets in the industrialised world the continent would need far less in development aid.Nonetheless, eliminating such subsidies is one of three pillars in an ambitious “Marshall Plan” for Africa advocated by Blair, the other two being a doubling in annual aid and debt cancellation.But analysts even before the start of the summit had warned that little headway on subsidies would be made here.They said the issue was likely instead to be addressed at a critical WTO ministerial meeting in Hong Kong in late December, when it is hoped that the finishing touches to the Doha round of global trade talks will be in place.The subsidy question has likewise been a source of deep division among key industrialised exporters.Within the European Union, Britain and France are bitterly at odds over the future of farm subsidies in the 25-nation bloc, with Blair pressing for their elimination and French President Jacques Chirac – whose country is their largest EU beneficiary – putting up stiff resistance.The disagreement is mirrored at the international level, notably as the United States likewise makes generous assistance available to its farmers.Meanwhile, Russia is ready to forgive 100 per cent of the debt owed it by the least-developed African countries, a Kremlin adviser has said.Nodari Simoniya, who serves as Russian President Vladimir Putin’s personal envoy on relations with Africa, told reporters at the Group of Eight summit that Russia would write off US$780 million (N$5,3 billion) in debt from countries in Africa that qualify under the highly indebted poor country programme.The programme includes a total of 27 nations, most in Africa.-Nampa-AFP-AP”The best place to do that is the Doha round (of WTO talks).I hope that by 2010 that the Doha round will achieve that objective.”The president was speaking alongside British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who is hosting the G8 summit after the pair had a breakfast meeting at the plush Gleneagles Hotel summit venue.Anti-poverty campaigners maintain that agricultural export subsidies allow European and US farmers to dump cheaper produce on African and world markets, thereby preventing African producers from competing fairly.Trade protectionism and subsidies in rich countries are estimated to cost sub-Saharan Africa close to two billion dollars a year, and economists have said that if African farmers had fair access to markets in the industrialised world the continent would need far less in development aid.Nonetheless, eliminating such subsidies is one of three pillars in an ambitious “Marshall Plan” for Africa advocated by Blair, the other two being a doubling in annual aid and debt cancellation.But analysts even before the start of the summit had warned that little headway on subsidies would be made here.They said the issue was likely instead to be addressed at a critical WTO ministerial meeting in Hong Kong in late December, when it is hoped that the finishing touches to the Doha round of global trade talks will be in place.The subsidy question has likewise been a source of deep division among key industrialised exporters.Within the European Union, Britain and France are bitterly at odds over the future of farm subsidies in the 25-nation bloc, with Blair pressing for their elimination and French President Jacques Chirac – whose country is their largest EU beneficiary – putting up stiff resistance.The disagreement is mirrored at the international level, notably as the United States likewise makes generous assistance available to its farmers.Meanwhile, Russia is ready to forgive 100 per cent of the debt owed it by the least-developed African countries, a Kremlin adviser has said.Nodari Simoniya, who serves as Russian President Vladimir Putin’s personal envoy on relations with Africa, told reporters at the Group of Eight summit that Russia would write off US$780 million (N$5,3 billion) in debt from countries in Africa that qualify under the highly indebted poor country programme.The programme includes a total of 27 nations, most in Africa.-Nampa-AFP-AP