By Daisy Ayliffe - 13th December 2005
The EU and US clashed over food aid as troubled WTO talks got under way in Hong Kong on Tuesday.
The EU has called for the focus of the talks to be shifted away from agriculture and on to development.
UN chief Kofi Annan told trade ministers that they must make real progress on the Doha trade round at their six-day meeting or disappoint the millions who "yearn to lift themselves out of poverty."
But tension between the US and EU exploded as the meeting got under way, with European Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson calling for "radical reform" to the US system of food aid for developing nations.
Washington sends aid donations in the form of domestic corn, wheat and other commodities, but Brussels says Washington should send aid in cash instead of wheat or other commodities.
"Food aid for poor countries and emergency relief can be a tool to advance development and for humanitarian relief," Mandelson told a news conference.
"But the US programme is designed to give support to US agricultural producers."
US Trade Representative Rob Portman told reporters he did not understand the EU "obsession" with food aid.
Washington says it has put forward a proposal to tighten food aid to ensure it does not skew local commerce.
At the opening ceremony of the talks, dozens of protesters inside the hall forced WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy to raise his voice as they chanted: "Development yes, Doha no."
Lamy advised all the delegates to be "more open-minded and bolder" in their negotiations so as to achieve the satisfactory results.
"A popular Chinese proverb says 'If you do not go into the cave of the tiger, how will you get its cub?'" Lamy said.
"In other words: nothing ventured, nothing gained."
The Hong Kong meeting will be attended by 5,800 delegates from 149 WTO members and 2,100 representatives from NGOs.
Launched in the Qatari capital in 2001, the Doha Round stalled over farm subsidies, which pitted mainly rich countries against poor ones.
It was put back on track following a meeting in July 2004, at which WTO members agreed to phase out farm subsidies.
At the same time, more than 5,000 protesters from South Korea, Japan, India, the Philippines and some African and Europe staged a demonstration outside the meeting.
Some of them clashed with police as they tried to ram through a police roadblock and enter a "forbidden zone" around the convention centre.
The unrest was the second anti-WTO demonstration held in Hong Kong within a week.
Have your say...
Please enter your comments below.