This would include the eventual elimination of export subsidies and other forms of export subsidisation, drastic reductions in domestic support and very substantial improvements in market access for agricultural products of actual and potential interest to them. Second, a number of developing countries, particularly non-Cairns Group developing countries, want to give developing countries significantly more flexibility than under existing provisions, especially in domestic support and market access with respect to staple foods and in the context of food security concerns. In services, negotiations are also going into their second year. Another priority should be the use of the GATS to bind liberalization in important service sectors such as telecoms and financial services. This is a must if countries are to attract invaluable foreign direct investment.
Every economy needs an efficient services backbone, whether it exports tomatoes or textiles.
A third priority relates to implementation-related concerns and issues. Many developing countries have concerns about the burden of implementing their Uruguay-Round commitments and its perceived inequities. They have raised a number of issues, which are being discussed in the WTO's General Council and in WTO committees. Modest progress has been made, notably at a special session of the WTO General Council last December. But there is now a growing recognition that further efforts relating to past agreements require new negotiations.