African countries led by Benin have warned that the success of World Trade Organisation (WTO) negotiations is linked to the implementation of sectoral initiative in favour of cotton which aims at elimination of cotton subsidies.

In a recent submission to the WTO, Benin, on behalf of Burkina Faso, Chad and Mali, and supported by the African group, said that the sectoral initiative in favour of cotton should be one of the four sensitive issues to be given priority at every stage of the process leading to the general council meeting scheduled for December 15.

The other three issues are agriculture, non-agricultural market access and the Singapore issues which include investment, competition policy, government procurement and trade facilitation.

According to research and information system (RIS) for non-aligned and other developing countries director general Nagesh Kumar, there was little chance of the African countries budging from their stand. "The countries seem to be very confident and it does not seem likely that they will let go of the issue," he said.

According to Dr Kumar, the cotton producing countries felt let down at the fifth ministerial meet of the WTO in Mexico in September, when instead of promising to bring down its cotton subsidies, the EU tried to divert the issue by asking the African countries to export more value-added products.

This was reflected in the draft ministerial text circulated in Cancun on September 13.

Benin said that the issue should also be examined in the meetings of the special session of the committee on agriculture and the trade negotiations council. A lasting solution to the damage suffered by the least developed and developing countries as a result of the agricultural subsidies accorded by certain cotton-producing developed countries has to be found, it said.