European Union (EU) Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson said Monday that the EU will not take new steps to liberalize farm trade unless other partners reciprocate.

"But my (EU) member states will simply not accept further first moves from the EU which are pocketed without parallel moves by others," he told a market access symposium at the European Parliament in Brussels.

Agriculture subsidies in rich countries have been a stumbling block for world trade talks. Failed global trade talks in Cancun, Mexico, in September 2003 saw two uncompromising blocs -- rich countries on one side and developing countries on the other, represented by Brazil, China, India and South Africa.

The EU and the United States are trying to strike a deal on the reduction of agriculture subsidies in exchange for more access to services markets of large developing countries.

Mandelson is due to meet officials from the United States, Brazil and India for further discussions in Paris on Friday.

He said he was concerned that talks aimed at opening up services markets are not producing meaningful results.

Mandelson said the clock is ticking for the World Trade Organization meeting in Hong Kong, which is now just 10 weeks away.

He said any accord reached in Hong Kong would have to include " a strong component of agricultural liberalization throughout the developed world."

The EU will do its share. But EU members "will simply not accept further first moves from the EU which are pocketed without parallel moves by others."

In the same speech, Mandelson also asked the EU to face challenges of the outside world.

"Europe cannot hide away from what is happening to our world. Sheltering ourselves from change is not an option," he said.

Future challenge from China and India is not about low wages, he said.

"Those who interpret this challenge as a race to the bottom based on low wages, have got it wrong, or at least substantially wrong. The staggering thing about Asia is the appetite for education, the outpouring of graduates often in computer science and engineering, and determination to develop their own research base."

"Nor have we in Europe, America or Japan the moral right to think that the world owes us a living. It doesn't. Developing countries have every right to exploit the legitimate comparative advantages they have. It is in this decade that the world is finally leaving the legacy of colonialism behind where Europe was able to shape the global pattern of production to suit its own interests," he said.

Source: Xinhua