Friday, September 22 2006 15:38 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Sydney: A farm-exports conference in Australia ended on a glum note Friday after delegates failed to break the stand-off between the US and the EU that has stalled the latest round of global trade talks. The 18-member Cairns Group, meeting in the east coast city of Cairns, has called on the US and the EU to strike a compromise that could spur the World Trade Organisation (WTO) into resuming the Doha Round of global trade talks. The round was suspended in July when neither side was prepared to give further concessions. "Those costs of continued delay will be borne by our farmers and our rural communities," the final communique declared. The Cairns Group said restarting the round depended on the US and the EU winding back support for their farmers. "The plain negotiating reality should also be clear: modest reforms in these areas will simply be insufficient to conclude a deal on agriculture, or to unlock the benefits of the broader Doha agenda," the closing statement said. Australia, which leads the Cairns Group, has urged the US to cut subsidies to farmers by a further $5 billion and the EU to cut tariffs by another five percent. The US had pledged to give ground - and showed its willingness to negotiate by sending both Trade Representative Susan Schwab and Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns to the three-day Cairns meeting. "We're willing to be at the table and negotiate our way through this," Johanns said on arrival in the far north Queensland city.

"We're willing to cut our subsidies, but the EU has to be more flexible," he said. The EU has shown itself less prepared to deal, being represented at the meeting not by Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson but by his underling, Ambassador to the WTO Carlo Trojan. Trojan ruled out giving ground in order to strike a compromise, saying that instead of demanding concessions, the US "should flag its willingness to do something in terms of effective cuts of domestic support". Australia, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Pakistan, Paraguay, the Philippines, South Africa, Thailand and Uruguay comprise the Cairns Group, which was formed 25 years ago in Cairns. Schwab did not hide her frustration with Trojan's stance: "You don't put something on the table and say 'Take it or leave it.' You don't say when another country puts a proposal on the table that it's 'non-negotiable.'" In remarks prior to the opening of the Cairns meeting, Mandelson said that the EU's offer to the US on reducing trade barriers was 'non-negotiable'.