The informal consultations on the work for the second phase, heard views of the EC, Japan and the Cairns Group trade diplomats said. One of the suggestions before the group is that the second phase, after the stock-taking, must proceed to agree on the guidelines and modalities for the negotiations, and that the various options should be fleshed out and drawn up in the second phase.
Japan is however opposed to any formulation of options.
There is also resistance to the formulation of guidelines and modalities for the negotiations. This is apart from the EC-Japan attempts to roll the mandated agricultural negotiations for further reforms to be rolled into a new round, with new issues, which they seek to launch at Doha in Qatar at the 4 th ministerial meeting. The Committee in the discussions on the various proposals on the table, continued the discussions on the proposals by India, and on which discussions had begun at the last meeting. Turkey and Egypt have broadly similar proposals, but with some variations in the detail. They make a clear distinctions between the obligations of developed countries to get rid of market-distorting subsidies and supports, and allowing developing countries more leeway in using subsidies to support subsistence farming and tackle rural poverty.