British finance minister Gordon Brown will later today call for rich countries to set a date for ending trade-distorting export subsidies that are hampering development in the poorest nations.
“So we cannot any longer ignore what people in the poorest countries will see as our hypocrisy of developed country protectionism,” he will say in a speech in London, according to Treasury officials
“We should be opening our markets and removing trade-distorting subsidies and, in particular, doing more to urgently tackle the waste of the Common Agricultural Policy by now setting a date for the end of export subsidies”.
Mr Brown will also stress the importance of the poorest countries themselves being able to decide their own trade reforms, rather than be directed from outside.
Speaking ahead of next week's summit meeting of Group of Eight leaders in Gleneagles, Scotland, Mr Brown said that empowerment for Africa was essential.
“The next steps on our journey, building upon debt relief, aid and trade justice, are the theme of my speech today - that our ultimate objective, the objective of UNICEF, is the empowerment of countries, communities and people,” he will say.
He will say that a lot had been achieved but more needs to be done.