The Sixth Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization (WTO) concluded Sunday in Hong Kong with a HK Ministerial Declaration, finally unveiling some tangible results of the six-day wrangle.

After more than 100 hours' harsh negotiations, the global trade body's 149 members reached an agreement on eliminating all forms of agricultural export subsidies by the end of 2013.

The declaration also announced that the developed members will eliminate all forms of export subsidies for cotton in 2006 and implement duty-free and quota-free market access for all the products from least-developed countries (LDC) by 2008.

Chairman of the conference John Tsang said at the closing ceremony that this meeting has drawn up a "clear roadmap" for further negotiations of the Doha Round.

He said the date and venue of the Seventh WTO Ministerial Conference will be determined by the WTO General Council through full consultations.

WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy said thanks to the six-day intensive work. The meeting has made "meaningful" decisions to put back on track the Doha Round momentum which has "entered a phase of slow motion" since 2004.

The WTO chief also called for more "collective action" and "new political energy" to conclude the Doha Round negotiations by the end of 2006.

Commonly recognized as the most conspicuous outcome of the conference, the agreement was made after a concession from the European Union (EU), which was earlier regarded as "unbelievable" by many experts.

Since agricultural products are the main export item of the majority of developing members, the progress in agricultural trade is considered the key to finally achieving the goals of the Doha Round trade talks.

Currently, 50 countries are identified by the United Nations as the least-developed countries, where the per capita income is below 750 US dollars a year.

The duty-free and quota-free market access will stimulate the export of the LDCs, which will bring them 8 billion US dollars benefit every year, said UN Under-Secretary-General Anwarul K. Chowdhury.

Though the conference was regarded as a "moderate step" for the completion of the Doha Round, it was taken after harsh negotiations and incessant quarrels on almost every word of the text.

Crossfire lasted for days between the United States and the European Union, which traded criticism against each other for lacking sincerity to push forward the negotiations on agriculture.

The quarrel ended up with a compromise from both sides, particularly the EU, so that the deadline was eventually set to eliminate all forms of agricultural subsidies.

Meanwhile, stronger voices from developing members were also heard at the conference.

A number of developing members forged a powerful alliance at the conference to fight for their own interests in Agriculture, NAMA (non-agricultural market access) and service trade negotiations.

"For the first time in the WTO, a ministerial meeting was held between all developing countries," said a joint statement issued by the G20, the G33, the African, Caribbean and Pacific countries (ACP), the LDCs, the African Group and the Small Economies.

The statement called for removal of distortions that "inhibit the export growth of developing countries" and demanded an " adequate policy space" to ensure their sustainable socio-economic development.

There still exists quite a large amount of divergence between the developed and developing groups in NAMA and trade in services.

The two parties failed to reach a consensus on the degree to which the flexibility should be granted to the developing members in foreign trade.

The conference held from Dec. 13 to 18 aimed to advance the stalled Doha Round trade talks, which were launched in the Qatari capital of Doha in November 2001.

More than 5,800 delegates of the WTO members, over 3,200 journalists and about 2,000 representatives from non-governmental organizations attended the six-day conference.

Source: Xinhua