Global NGOs differ on WTO talks collapse

New Delhi, Jul 26: The failed WTO talks on the Doha Round would mean continuance of subsidies in the US and EU to the detriment of the farmers in the developing countries, Oxfam has said.

However, another global NGO ActionAid, has said the collapse of world trade talks in Geneva, would create new opportunities for fair trade.

''Ironically, we welcome the collapse of the Geneva meeting. The hypocrisy of the United States of America, preaching for withdrawal of subsidies everywhere and practising the opposite for itself now stands exposed,'' India country director of ActionAid India Babu Mathew said in a statement here today.

He said the failure of WTO talks need not be a disaster for the world's poor .''Instead, there is now a historic opportunity for much needed reform of the World Trade Organisation'', Professor Mathew said.

Oxfam, on the other hand, said lakhs of the world's poorest farmers, many of them in India, would remain shackled to the existing system of rigged rules and double standards in trade rules.

''India, a leading voice for poor farmers at the WTO has negotiated hard, to save the world from a bad agriculture trade deal but failed talks mean that steep farm subsidies in the US and the EU will keep Indian farmers from competing in international markets,'' Oxfam South Asia Policy Advisor Palash Kanti Das said.

''Poorer farmers in Least Development Countries (LDCs) like Bangladesh will continue to suffer even more. Failed talks are indeed a tragic outcome for all developing countries'', he said.

UNI

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