Australia urged the United States and Europe on Friday to tackle the issue of farm subsidies now or risk putting off a new global trade pact into the next decade and delaying a fairer deal for developing nations.
Australian Trade Minister Mark Vaile, who also chairs the Cairns Group of agricultural exporters, said Washington and the European Union needed to show some "serious discipline" on farm subsidies to meet an end-year target for a global deal.
"The two major players in this organisation really need now to lead this process forward," Vaile said on a visit to Malaysia.
"If we don't break through this next phase and get into the final stages of negotiations in 2006, then the US Congress will take the initiative by the middle to late part of next year in developing the next farm bill," he told Reuters in an interview.
"If they do that, the administration is unlikely to be able to introduce any discipline into that farm bill, and if that goes through you can forget about any serious progress for the WTO in the next five years."
Farm subsidies are one of the most contentious issues in the World Trade Organisation's Doha Round of free-trade talks, which is aiming for a draft accord on lowering barriers to commerce by the end of this year when trade ministers meet in Hong Kong.
The EU has agreed direct export subsidies should go, but neither it nor the United States or Japan, other big subsidisers, are ready to talk about getting rid of everything.
Australia, a major exporter of grains and meat, has been campaigning through the Cairns Group for almost 20 years to keep agriculture on the world trade agenda, aligning itself with many developing countries in the Asia-Pacific in the process.
The Cairns Group comprises 17 countries, including Bolivia, Costa Rica, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Uruguay.
The 148-member WTO has been grappling with farm subsidies since the Uruguay round of mainly non-farm trade talks ended in 1994. The Doha round began in 2001 with an ambitious plan to tackle farm trade issues but stalled in 2003 when disagreements brought the round to the brink of collapse.
With US President George W. Bush's fast-track trade negotiating authority coming up for renewal in July 2007, trade ministers believe they need a draft deal to be agreed by the end of this year in Hong Kong to keep the round on the rails.
Malaysia, which is trying to secure greater access for its farm produce to the Japanese market, joined Australia on Friday in voicing concerns that time was fast running out.
European decision-makers are on summer holidays and will have less than three months between returning to work and meeting in Hong Kong, Malaysian Trade Minister Rafidah Aziz said after trade talks with her Australian counterpart.
"On agriculture, we still do not see the actual numbers on how far people will reduce their subsidies and their protection," Rafidah said. "If things do not move fast after summer recess, Hong Kong may not see any results," she said.