Norway willing to cut farm aid to promote WTO talks: PM

Norway has said that it was willing to make concessions on its highly protected agricultural market to boost the WTO's chances of reaching a global trade liberalization pact.

"We are prepared to reduce the subsidies or the tariffs on farm products," Norway's Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg told reporters at the the Geneva-based WTO office on Friday, where he was taking part in talks aimed at reforming the global body.

"We are willing to give concessions to be able to contribute to an agreement," he said.

Norway is a member of the World Trade Organization which consumes more food than it produce in its own countries.

In the past Norway has opposed cuts to the high import tariffs it currently levies on agricultural goods.

Negotiations are currently intensifying among the WTO's 149 members on the guiding principles of a new commerce liberalization treaty.

Source: Xinhua