Hong Kong, Dec. 14: Union commerce minister Kamal Nath today hit out at the US and EU stating that the package for least developed countries (LDCs) could not be a substitute for the Doha development agenda, which is central to the current WTO ministerial.

He said issues raised by all developing countries should be addressed.

Although the LDCs are an important part of the development agenda, it would not suffice to restrict the initiative to LDCs alone, he added.

India has strongly backed the African countries’ initiative on resolving the cotton issue at the WTO today.

Nath said it was absolutely essential to remove the trade-distortions caused by the huge subsidies extended to cotton farmers in the US, which depressed world prices of the crop. This led to the impoverishment of farmers in poor countries.

He told WTO that India imports cotton worth half-a-billion dollars every year, which offers export opportunities for African farmers.

India already provides market access for cotton with a low tariff of 10 per cent, but the high subsidies doled out by the US are making the African producers non-competitive.

His meetings with US trade representative Robert Portman and EU trade commissioner Peter Mandelson over the reduction in subsidies in the agricultural sector and non-agricultural market access (NAMA) remained inconclusive.

While the EU is keen to move ahead on NAMA, Mandelson did not come up with any specific figures on the concessions the Union was prepared to make on industrial goods.

Nath said the EU had made a proposal based on the Swiss formula, which translates into a 75 per cent cut in duties for developing countries compared with a mere 25 per cent cut for developed countries.

“Surely, there is a mistake somewhere,’’ he said.

The minister said the current development agenda proposes for larger cuts in agricultural and industrial tariffs of advanced countries. However, the advanced countries are trying to push through the opposite.

Nath has asked the EU to quote the exact percentage of tariffs it was willing to reduce on industrial goods and India would reciprocate by cutting its tariffs by two-thirds of this amount.

However, Mandelson has not responded to the offer. Another meeting with the EU leader was scheduled for later tonight.