By Matthew Green and Manoah Esipisu
Mombasa - A global attempt to rescue free trade talks will be put to the test in Africa on Wednesday when some of the world's poorest countries seek common ground with the richest.
The meeting at a luxury resort on Kenya's coast aims to help bridge gaps between the United States, Europe and Africa which contributed to 2003's collapse of negotiations to promote free trade, seen as vital to the world economy.
African states will tell US and European Union trade chiefs to open markets to goods grown by millions of peasant farmers if they are to win their backing to revive the talks.
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'We've been very flexible so far' "We've been very flexible so far and now we've reached a point whereby if we continue to be flexible we shall be breaking our backs," Tanzanian Trade Minister Juma Ngasongwa told Reuters.
"The only sensible thing is for the more developed world to be flexible, don't ask for flexibility from us," he said.
The talks held under the auspices of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), which sets the rules of global trade, broke down because of disputes over rich countries' farm subsidies and over whether to extend trade rules into new areas.
At stake is a deal to remove trade barriers that the World Bank says could add more than $500-billion a year to global incomes by 2015, lifting 144 million people out of poverty.
Trade ministers from countries including Mauritius, Uganda and Morocco gathered for the opening of the two-day meeting in Mombasa, but it appeared unlikely that all of the 18 or so African ministers invited would attend.
'This is like a poker game' The European Union says it is not planning to bring any new proposals to the two-day meeting, saying it wants to encourage African countries to take a fresh look at the compromises it has already offered.
"This is like a poker game," said Arancha Gonzalez, spokesperson for EU Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy, who is attending the meeting. "Rather than asking for new cards, I think we should play with cards we already have."
The EU, which pays lavish subsidies to its farmers, says it is willing to eliminate subsidies on exports of particular interest to developing countries to make it easier for them to compete in global markets.
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