Heed majority opinion of WTO members: India, G8 Outreach nations

St Petersburg, July 17 (UNI) India and other ''outreach partners'' of G8 summit today presented their strongly worded ''position paper,'' calling upon the US, EU and other industrialised and powerful nations to accept their demands for a steep cut in local farm subsidy in order to break the deadlock in the Doha round of WTO negotiations.

''The majority of WTO members are developing countries and their interests must be at the heart of the current round of trade negotiations,'' the outreach partners, represented by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Chinese President Hu Jintao and others, said at their ''working meeting'' with the G8 -- US, UK, Canada, Russia, Japan, Germany, France and Italy.

The other outreach delegates were Presidents Luiz Inacio Lula of Brazil, Thabo Mbeki of South Africa, Vincente Fox of Mexico, Joseph Kabila of Congo, which represents the African Union, and Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan, which represents the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).

Among others at the G8-Outreach Nations meet were Presidents George W Bush (US), Vladimir Putin (Russia) and Jacques Chirac (France), British Prime Minister Tony Blair and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

The outreach leaders said Doha round was the best chance to open world markets, level the playing field, share wealth and create jobs. This was a ''Development Round and it must create new opportunities for the developing world,'' they said.

Poverty alleviation and development promotion were not only ethical and economic imperatives, they were also essential for a stable world economy.

All nations, especially the poorest ones, must benefit from the opportunities created by international trade. A substantial reduction of agricultural subsidies and improved market access for agricultural and other products would increase the competitiveness and improve living standards of developing countries.

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