Commerce minister Kamal Nath (second from left) with ministers from other developing countries at the WTO conference in Hong Kong on Friday. (Reuters)

Hong Kong, Dec. 16: The India-Brazil- led G20 group and the G90, which includes the least developed countries, have forged an alliance to ensure that development issues are not sidelined by the West at the WTO talks.

The decision, announced at a joint press conference today, brings together 110 developing and least developed countries in the Asian, African, Caribbean and Pacific regions. The alliance gains significance as the western nations have tried to divide the developing countries by offering a special trade package for least developed countries.

The move is also expected to put at rest misgivings harboured by certain LDCs about the G20, which the advanced countries were exploiting.

A joint statement issued by the trade ministers of the 110 countries recalled the pledge made at Doha to place the interests and needs of the developing countries, especially the least developed among them, at the heart of the round. They reiterated that agriculture is the central issue of the development round.

The trade ministers agreed that the round must result in the removal of distortions that inhibit exports from developing countries. Adequate policy space for the developing countries to safeguard the livelihood of farmers and protect industries should be in place too.

The ministers have urged developed countries to agree to the complete elimination of export support measures to agriculture by 2010. They also affirmed the need for sharp reductions of trade-distorting support to the farm sector.

While some of these countries have conflicting interests in areas like cotton exports, they have decided to sink these differences for the time being and work for the larger cause.

Commerce minister Kamal Nath said it was a “historic moment’’ for the third world and India would do its bit to help the least developed countries.

Brazilian trade minister Celso Amorim said the decision was a move to bring together nations with a common interest to usher in an era of fair trade.

Both Kamal Nath and Amorim have been doing the spadework to bring the various groups constituting the LDCs, the African Union and the African Carribbean and Pacific (ACP) developing countries on a common platform.

“We are not interested in outcomes couched in disingenuous English but in specific numbers and dates,” Zambian trade minister and LDC convener, Deepak Patel, said. Patel, whose roots are in India, was referring to the quota-free and tariff-free regime the developing countries have demanded.

“We are seeking this in good faith and not as part of a bargaining chip or surreptitious deal,” he added.