Brazil to support end of ag subsidies in Rome meeting

BRASILIA, June 2 (Reuters) - Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said on Monday he supported removing rich countries' agricultural subsidies during a U.N. summit on food security, which begins on Tuesday in Rome.

The president said during his weekly radio address 854 million people go to bed hungry every day around the world and an agreement in the WTO Doha trade talks was needed.

"It's important that we start to establish a strategy to improve food production, and above all, remove agricultural subsidies by richer countries. It makes it almost impossible for poor countries to sell food in Europe," he said.

The WTO's Doha negotiations to bring down barriers to exports around the world are in their seventh year but face a crucial test in the next few weeks, after which the U.S. presidential election may cause further delay.

(Reporting by Ana Nicolaci da Costa, editing by Alan Elsner)