Kamal Nath holds farm talks at Davos

He said that the US and the EU must move forward in the area of reducing tariff peaks and farm doles.

Commerce Minister Kamal Nath held an informal meeting with trade ministers of 20 countries on Sunday to draw up a work programme to conclude the current round of talks under the World Trade Organisation.

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The meeting, on the margins of the annual World Economic Forum, listed the timelines for this year in a follow-up to the Hong Kong Declaration of the WTO last month in different areas of trade negotiations.

"The work programme envisages finalisation of modalities in agricultural talks, including the elimination of export subsidies," Kamal Nath said.

He said that the US and the European Union must move forward in the area of reducing tariff peaks and in reducing trade-distorting farm doles.

"The argument of some developed nations that they must get greater market access in return for cutting farm subsidies is unacceptable. We cannot be asked to pay for their stopping something they should not be doing in the first place."