Brazil says big effort still needed in WTO farm talks

By Jonathan Lynn

GENEVA (Reuters) - Agriculture superpower Brazil believes World Trade Organisation farm talks still need a lot of work if next week's high-stakes trade meeting is to yield anything meaningful, its foreign minister said on Saturday.

Celso Amorim, in Geneva for consultations ahead of the week-long meeting where ministers aim to thrash out a deal to outline a global trade pact, said a few myths were circulating.

"One of these myths is that agriculture is almost ready and all the problem now is NAMA," he told a news conference, using the WTO jargon for industrial goods.

"This is a self-serving assertion of those who do not want to do their tasks in agriculture, which was, has been, and is the engine of the round."

Next week's talks will focus on tariff and subsidy cuts, and the main exceptions to them, in the core areas of agriculture and industry. The talks will also look at the prospects of further liberalization in services such as banking.

Ministers hope to agree the parameters of a deal in the WTO's Doha round, launched in late 2001 to open up world trade, which could then be completed in the coming months.

Among the outstanding issue in agriculture are proposed cuts in U.S. farm subsidies and the unwillingness of rich countries to cap tariffs on agricultural products, Amorim said.

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