Mkapa calls for postponement of WTO talks

President Benjamin Mkapa said on Sunday that the Tanzanian government was opposed to the launch of a new round of World Trade Organisation (WTO) talks, news agencies reported. In an address to the nation he said the "incomplete agenda" of the previous trade liberalising round should be dealt with first. "What is needed is not to rush into a new round, but assisting poor nations build up a capacity that will make them participate effectively in the global trading system, as earlier pledged by developed nations," Mkapa was quoted as saying by AFP.

Speaking ahead of a WTO summit due to be held in Doha, Qatar, in November, Mkapa said rich nations should remove trade barriers on agricultural and manufactured goods from developing countries. While a Tanzanian farmer was exposed to global market forces, "rich countries spend more than US $300 billion a year on agricultural subsidies, an amount roughly equivalent to the entire gross domestic product of sub-Saharan Africa," he said.

Mkapa added that his views were representative of the position reached by a meeting of trade ministers of the Least Developed Countries in Zanzibar in July. "Rules of global economy and trade that end up making poor countries poorer, instead of narrowing the gap between the rich and poor, are rules that Tanzania has opposed and will continue to oppose with all its strength as coordinator of least developed countries," he said.