Rich nations came under fresh attack for refusing to give ground on farm protection at world trade talks on Thursday as nations grouping more than half of the world's population warned of an 'impasse well into the future'.
The United States is hiding behind a 'gigantic great smokescreen' in a bid to dodge its duty to cotton farmers in Africa, European Union trade chief Peter Mandelson charged at WTO talks that continue in Hong Kong.
World trade talks plunged into disarray on Friday as rich nations exchanged accusations over their long-protected farm markets and struggled even to agree on a package of measures to help the world's poorest.
As the talks at the WTO continue, the Southern African region, Africa and other developing countries and regions face an ever increasing threat to catastrophic jobs and even the very real potential of de-industrialisation
By Chee Yoke Ling, TWN Info Service on WTO and Trade Issues
Some key elements of the 'development package' that has been floated at the Hong Kong Ministerial cannot be taken at face value because neither the EU nor the US can guarantee that they can implement what they have promised
