A WTO development package that aims to boost trade in developing nations by providing duty-free, quota-free access to imports has drawn fire from poor countries.
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.
The European Union and the United States stuck to their guns at the WTO talks, with both sides repeating demands for concessions on key issues as frustration grew over the lack of progress.
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
