CBI wants G8 to look at fairer trade

The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) is urging the G8 leaders to concentrate on introducing fairer trading rules as part of the move to end poverty in Africa.

CBI director general Digby Jones is calling on the world’s most powerful leaders meeting in Scotland this week to tear down tariff barriers and reform rules on farming subsidies.

“Ending trade distorting agricultural subsidies is a key step on the road to achieving a sustained reduction in African poverty,” he will tell business chiefs at the CBI president’s committee today.

A report carried out by the Commission for Africa revealed that the continent’s share of world trade has fallen from six per cent in 1980 to just two per cent today, and Sir Digby believes that the European and US farm subsidies are largely to blame for this decline