The least developed countries should be granted exemption of tariffs and quotas immediately and developing countries should also be given flexibility on special products and special safeguard mechanism, Bo Xilai, Chinese minister of commerce, said in Hong Kong yesterday.
"The talks should give developing countries real and tangible benefits to boost their confidence in the Doha Round talks," said Bo, who is heading the Chinese delegation to the Sixth WTO Ministerial Conference in the city which opened on Tuesday.
China supports the idea that the Doha Round talks should reach a balanced agreement, said Bo, pointing to an overall balance which is conducive for  developing economies to develop.
"Currently, a significant imbalance does exist between developed countries and developing countries and such imbalance has affected the healthy development of the world economy," said Bo.
He also pointed out that China has made remarkable contributions to world trade despite a relatively short WTO membership and urged the trade body to fulfill the special concerns of its new members.
Since the starting of the ministerial conference, 149 WTO members have been engaging in negotiations in many fields with agricultural issues at the core.
All the participants to the conference agree that agriculture is the toughest issue that decides if the Doha Round of negotiations could be successfully completed by the end of 2006.
The G-20 ministers, representing 21 developing countries from different parts of the world, said in a declaration on Tuesday that a development round requires the removal of distortions in international agricultural rules.
The declaration said, the largest structural distortion in international trade occurs in agriculture through the combination of high tariffs, domestic support and export subsidies that protect inefficient farmers in developed countries.
It stressed that removing these anti-development measures is a core objective of the Doha Round as it will help in reclaiming the development dimension of the Doha Development Agenda and the meaningful integration of developing countries into the global economy.
(Xinhua)