G8 to agree to open trade, boost farm aid: draft text

By Lesley Wroughton

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Group of 8 leaders will agree to fight trade protectionism and mobilize billions over the next three years to boost agricultural investment in the developing world, a draft of the communique said on Monday.

The summit of the world's leading industrialized nations will convene in L'Aquila, Italy, on Wednesday through Friday in talks that will focus on food security, aid, climate change, trade and the world economy.

The draft, obtained by Reuters, calls for a conclusion of the Doha trade talks but does not set a timeline for finishing the negotiations.

The draft does not include a figure for how much the G8 would commit to agriculture investment because it is still under discussion, although aid sources said it could be as much as $15 billion.

An agreement on food security is critical following record food price increases and shortages of key commodities last year, which increased hunger and malnutrition worldwide.

The G8 includes the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Canada and Russia.

According to the draft, leaders will express concern about global food security and agree that sustained and predictable funding, and increased targeted investments in agriculture are urgently needed to increase world food production.

"The tendency of decreasing ODA (official development assistance) and national financing to agriculture must be reversed," the draft said.

"We will aim at substantially increasing aid to agriculture and food security, including through multi-year resource commitments," it added.

The G8 will also urge countries to remove food export restrictions or extraordinary taxes, especially for food bought for humanitarian purposes, according to the draft communique. In addition they will call on countries to give advance notice before imposing any restrictions.

The focus on global food security has been proposed by the Obama administration following the food price crisis last year, which highlighted chronic underinvestment in agriculture as donor aid has increasingly gone to fighting diseases.

The G8 draft will also emphasize that agricultural investment should be done in a way that promotes sustainable production and helps the poor.

CONCLUDING DOHA TRADE ROUND

Turning to trade, the G8 leaders will aim for "an ambitious, comprehensive and balanced" conclusion of the Doha trade round, according to the draft.

It said the G8 will call for "renewed, determined efforts to bring it to a timely and successful conclusion."