The World Trade Organization will draw up another proposal on farm trade reforms before its self-imposed March 31 deadline to set new rules, as members remained sharply at odds over the first draft issued by a WTO panel chief earlier this week, officials said Saturday.
As agricultural trade negotiations took center stage on the second day of the three-day WTO mini-ministerial conference, trade ministers from 22 nations and regions failed to reach an agreement.
Exporters, led by the United States and Australia, criticized the draft proposed by Stuart Harbinson, chairman of WTO agricultural trade negotiations, as "not ambitious enough." Importers, such as Japan and the European Union, said it "lacked balance."