The European Commission requested rich nations to cut subsidies to their cotton industries as soon as an agreement on world trade liberalisation, currently on the table, is put into effect.
The appeared to isolate the United States, the world's biggest cotton producer, and gain support of African countries prior to next month's decisive meeting of World Trade Organisation (WTO) in Hong Kong.
The EU is stressed in the talks from both developed countries like US and developing nations to reduce its agricultural subsidies and open its markets wider to farm goods.
The European Union has suggested the removal of all forms of export subsidies for all forms of cotton for all developed countries, said Peter Power, trade spokesman of Commission.
He added that EU, the only a minor cotton producer with 2.6 percent of world production, wanted such an agreement to be implemented from day one of any new WTO agreement.
Power also said that this was a major improvement on the U.S. position, and described it as part of an EU drive to ensure a global trade pact resulted in quick advantages to poor developing countries.
To convince politically influential cotton producers, White House wants gradual introduction in cuts in subsidies.
The EU call coincided with a visit to Brussels by President Toumani Toure of Mali, cotton-growing states of West Africa, where cotton is the bread and butter for nearly 15 million people. Cotton amount to between 50 and 80 percent of those nations' exports.
The EU, which is a major cotton importer, improved its annual 800 million euros in subsidies to the cotton segment last year to eliminate any trade-distorting link with production. Power denied any changes in Friday's proposal.
Greece and Spain are the two major EU producers. According to 2004 statistics, Greece registers 80 percent of EU production with 1.55 million tonnes of raw cotton a year.
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