WTO rich balk as poor demand more

HONG KONG (AFP) - 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.

A block of least developed countries that includes Bangladesh, Nepal and Zambia doubt that a proposal under negotiation at WTO talks here would completely eliminate tariffs and quotas for the globe's impoverished.

The deal, held up as a beacon of hope in the four-year-old Doha round of trade talks that have stalled over EU agricultural subsidies, is only a small part of a general agreement aimed at trade liberalisation.

But with the US balking over free entry of Bangladesh textiles to its market and Japan stuck on rice, the tariff and quota proposal seems to be unravelling as poor countries fear the rich will not make good on their promises.

full story: http://asia.news.yahoo.com/051216/afp/051216033331asiapacificnews.html