Five powers agree stance on Doha

Five leading trade powers claimed on 29 July 2004 to have opened the way for a deal to revive the Doha global trade round by agreeing an outline basis for negotiations on liberalising agriculture, the toughest issue in the talks. The US, the European Union, Brazil, India and Australia said they had achieved a "common understanding" on how boldly to tackle cuts in farm subsidies and import barriers. Agreement among five key members on the agriculture text is a welcome and important input into the talks, WTO Director-General Supachai Panitchpakdi said. But he cautioned that no WTO agriculture framework deal is possible without support from the rest of the membership.

http://www.wto.org/english/news_e/news04_e/dda_package_sum_28_29july04_e.htm http://www.wto.org/english/news_e/news04_e/dda_package_sum_28_29july04_e.htm

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