EVIAN, France (Reuters) - Group of Eight leaders pledged on Monday to complete world trade liberalization talks on time by the end of 2004 but skirted transatlantic rows and came under fire for failing developing countries.
A communiqué released by summit host France did not mention either U.S. complaints over a European Union ban on genetically modified food imports or disputes over support by both the United States and the EU for their farmers.
The G8 leaders called for fairer trade for poor countries, but made no reference in their statement to a proposal by French President Jacques Chirac for rich states to level the playing field by suspending subsidies on their farm exports to Africa.
"We are... committed to delivering on schedule, by the end of 2004, the goals set out in the Doha Development Agenda," said the statement, released at a G8 summit in Evian, France.
Aid group Oxfam called the statement "completely vacuous."
"Millions of African farmers are being ruined because they cannot compete in local or world markets with heavily subsidized agricultural products from Europe and the United States.
"But proposals to cut export subsidies are not even mentioned in the G8's statement," Oxfam's Justin Forsyth said.
Leaders of the G8 -- the United States, France, Britain, Germany, Italy, Canada, Russia and Japan -- said they would ensure a ministerial meeting in Cancun, Mexico, in September "takes all the decisions necessary to help reach that goal."
The statement called on World Trade Organization members to work on a "further substantial opening of trade in all areas" and urged better market access, particularly for poor countries.
NO MAGIC CURE
The G8 nations agreed to seek a solution allowing poor countries cheap access to patented medicines to combat major epidemics in time for the Cancun meeting.
But the statement did not say how to meet the objections of the U.S. pharmaceuticals industry, which are holding up a deal.
Aid agency Medecins Sans Frontieres called the communiqué a "catastrophic backslide" from the Doha declaration.
"This approach is an attempt to protect Western drug company interests, rather than a genuine effort to improve access to medicines needed to save millions of lives," it said.
The Doha round of talks has been stalled since an end-March deadline to set the framework for farm negotiations was missed.
Disputes involve U.S. support to its farm sector and the 40 billion euros ($47 billion) a year which the EU spends on agricultural aid, export subsidies and minimum price guarantees -- and from which France is by far the main beneficiary.
Last month the United States, Canada, Argentina and 10 other countries filed a complaint before the WTO over a five-year-old EU ban on imports of genetically modified organisms -- a long standing trade issue.
Expectations for progress on trade from the G8 summit were low. But with Africa slated as a major French concern, it would be embarrassing for Chirac if his call for a moratorium on farm exports to the continent never sees the light of day.
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