Failed Trade Talks Sept03

Bashir Khanbhai, Conservative Euro MP for the East of England, has condemned the failure of Western governments to reach agreement on trade talks in Cancun this week.

The World Bank estimated that 144 million people would have been lifted out of poverty if a deal had gone through in Cancun.

Speaking from Brussels, Mr Khanbhai, a leading Member of the Development Committee in the European Parliament said:

"This meeting of the World Trade Organisation should have been a chance for the West to show it was serious about eliminating world poverty by slashing generous subsidies to its farmers.

"Instead, the collapse of the talks is likely to hit economic growth and create job losses worldwide. The refusal of the European Union and the United States to cut their state aid to farmers, worth more than £500 million a day, is a huge disappointment to those of us who have been fighting for a fairer trade system which benefits the poor as well as the rich."