EU refuses new agricultural concessions

The European Union has stressed it will not give new agricultural concessions at the ongoing WTO talks which are aimed at salvaging the deadlocked Doha Round talks.

Activists from charity organization Oxfam pose as World Trade Organisation (WTO) "Ministers" from the EU, U.S., India and Brazil at a poker table during a photo opportunity in Geneva July 23, 2008. Ministers from around 30 countries are meeting in Geneva to seek a breakthrough in negotiations on new global free trade treaty, known as the Doha round(Reuters)

France's Minister of State for Foreign Trade Anne-Marie Idrac, demanded reciprocity in the current negotiations concerning the Doha Round.

She said that the EU's previous offer to cut farm tariffs by 54 percent, or EU Trade Commissioner's proposal of a 60 percent reduction, was a major step intended to move forward the Doha Round. Developed and developing countries have clashed repeatedly in the seven-year WTO Doha round of talks. They have missed repeated deadlines because of differences over agriculture and non agricultural market access.