The World Trade Organization must make significant progress toward a global trade treaty when it meets in Hong Kong later this month, finance ministers from the world's seven wealthiest nations said Saturday.
Britain's Treasury chief Gordon Brown, who hosted a meeting of G7 finance ministers and central bankers, called for an "ambitious outcome" to the Doha trade round by the end of 2006.
U.S. Treasury Secretary John Snow said trade liberalization was essential to boost the world economy and alleviate poverty.
"We cannot allow it to fail," said Snow, who urged the European Union and Japan to make "significant moves forward" on agriculture.
Brazil and India, who also attended the talks, offered further cuts in tariffs on industrial goods, but demanded further action by the European Union and the United States on farming subsidies and tariffs.
The G7 ministers said the Hong Kong summit marked a "critical step" toward a global trade deal and said the "opportunity must be seized." The statement said the G7 had agreed to increase trade-related assistance to developing countries to $4 billion a year by 2010.
Trade negotiators are trying to agree on a binding treaty lowering trade barriers across all sectors. Agriculture has proved a sticking point and the trade round, launched in Doha, Qatar in 2001, is already well behind an original December 2004 deadline.
The EU has offered to reduce agricultural tariffs -- but not as much as other big agricultural producers are demanding, and it wants concessions in other areas, notably service industries and market access for industrial goods.
Hopes are fading that the WTO will agree on a framework in Hong Kong that would lead to a deal by the end of 2006.
India, China, Russia invited
In an effort to make progress at the weekend summit in London, Brown invited ministers from India, Brazil, China, South Africa and Russia to join the G7 countries -- the United States, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan.
India, which has offered a 50 percent cut in tariffs on industrial goods, said it was "willing to undertake higher cuts provided developed countries can match or take higher cuts."
The country said in a statement it was "prepared to move forward" offering greater market access in services, depending on the response of other countries. It demanded an end to agricultural export subsidies and all "trade distorting domestic support."
Meanwhile, Brazil said in a statement that it would offer further cuts in industrial tariffs, depending on moves by the European Union and the United States on agriculture. Brazil said it was also willing to "actively participate in the services negotiations."
Brown called on French President Jacques Chirac, who has strongly resisted a further cut in support for European farmers, to reconsider his position.
"This is a matter now for the French to discus with the European negotiators but they did sign up to a statement which calls for renewed momentum (on trade negotiations)," he said.
European Monetary Affairs Commissioner Joaquin Almunia, who attended the summit, welcomed the statements, but stressed that trade negotiations were reserved for next week's meeting Hong Kong.
"I hope that these kind of statements can help for a positive advancement of negotiations but of course we weren't negotiating today," he said. (編輯:趙露)