New York - Africa's refusal to be marginalised at the World Trade Organization's third ministerial meeting in Seattle was a "watershed" in relations between the industrial North and the developing South. It also strengthened UN Secretary General Kofi Annan's call for a "development round" of talks that would place poverty reduction and sustainable development at the center of the global trading system.

... The angry refusal of African and Caribbean governments to accept any agreement reached without their consent doomed the meeting to failure and ensures that the interests of developing countries can no longer be ignored when setting the global trade agenda.

... In Seattle, African states intended to demand that industrialised countries open their markets to African exports, eliminate the biases against developing countries and adopt a package of special trade measures to benefit Least Developed Countries.

In remarks prepared for Seattle's opening ceremony, Mr. Annan echoed Africa's request for a development round. He called on industrialised countries to open markets developing nations and put an end subsidies that threaten the lives of millions of poor farmers in Africa, Asia and Latin America who cannot compete with subsidised imports. Africa Recovery cites UN studies estimating that elimination of tariff and non-tariff barriers in developed countries would by generate an additional $700 billion a year in trade for developing countries in the South.