A failing finale

The year of Africa's big economic push is ending with bad tempered negotiations in China

African governments wanted the World Trade Organisation's ministerial meeting in Hong Kong on 13-18 December to cut rich-country subsidies on cotton, rice and sugar, while those rich countries open their markets to processed goods and manufactures from Africa. However, little happened, as the preamble in Geneva to the ministerial talks became tangled in obstruction and finger-pointing by the richest economies, especially the European Union, United States and Japan.

Article Tags:
United States, Japan, Ghana, Australia, Brazil, Thailand, Malawi, Mauritania, Tanzania, Cape Verde, São Tomé and Príncipe, Mauritius, Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Togo, Susan Prowse, George Bush

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