The Government has warned the European Union against further agriculture concessions in the ongoing World Trade Organisation talks.
European Union trade commissioner Peter Mandelson got support from EU countries today to push for a better deal for European companies in global trade talks.
With the World Trade Organisation talks entering a decisive phase, EU foreign ministers expressed "support for the Commission in seeking the further improvements" in the negotiations, a joint statement said.
The EU, the United States and other rich economies want big developing nations such as Brazil and South Africa to open their economies more for manufactured goods and services, as part of the WTO's long-delayed Doha round of global trade talks.
Last month, several EU states led by France and Irealnd accused Mr Mandelson of offering too many concessions on farm trade for little return from other WTO countries.
Since then, Mr Mandelson has stressed the need for movement by other countries. He warned last week that the Doha round faced a high risk of failure without such concessions.
The round was launched in 2001 in a bid to boost the global economy and help poor countries fight poverty by lowering barriers to trade around the world. But they have missed deadline after deadline as rich and poor countries argued.
"The message from the member states was absolutely clear - they want the Doha round to succeed," Mr Mandelson said after meeting the foreign ministers, adding the bloc was prepared to maintain its offer to cut farm import tariffs as long as other countries also made concessions.
"If my negotiating partners want to continue to see me pushing this boulder uphill, as I am determined to do, they are going to have to show greater flexibility and a greater sense of realism about how this negotiation is going to come out."
But Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern warned Ireland, France and other EU member-states with strong farm interests remained concerned that a deal might be done at the expense of agriculture.
"The EU has gone as far it can and any concessions must now be made by others," Mr Ahern said. "Mr Mandelson can put whatever spin he wants on it, but agriculture is certainly not a done deal as far as we and many others are concerned."
Diplomats from other countries who attended the meeting said France also repeated its concerns about the negotiations but most countries were supportive of Mr Mandelson's approach.
Negotiators at the WTO in Geneva will this week focus again on the core issues of agriculture and industrial goods to see whether they can narrow the big gaps sufficiently for ministers to meet in April to aim for a deal.
Without a breakthrough soon, the round risks running out of time ahead of the US presidential election and it could be delayed by several more years or collapse, trade officials say.