[originaltext] Australian Prime Minister John Howard argued forcefully for ri

Australian Prime Minister John Howard argued forcefully for rich nations to tear down their trade harriers as the most effective way of trans forming the fortunes of the world’s poor.
   Speaking ahead of summit talks with US President George W. Bush here Tuesday, Howard also said that nations must not retreat in the "war on terror" in light of the July 7 attacks in London, which he is set to visit later in the week.
   In a wide-ranging speech to the US Chamber of .Commerce, the prime minister said a free trade agreement between the United States and Australia that took effect on January 1 was solid proof of the nations’ "special relationship".
   But Howard also had a veiled message to trading powers such as the United States and European Union as liberalization negotiations at the World Trade Organization count down to a crunch ministerial gathering of the WTO in Hong Kong in December.
   "It is beyond argument that the value to developing countries of’ re moving the most pernicious of the trade barriers maintained by developed countries would do infinitely more to help those countries, than would in creases in overseas aid," he said.
   Howard said he sympathized with Live 8 organizer Bob Geldof and debt-relief supporters "that the world does have a moral obligation".
    "But it has to be a moral obligation that is delivered calmly and with the proper understanding that vie can do a lot more by addressing trade imperfections, and we have every right to insist that standards of governance are properly delivered," he said.
   it was crucial that the WTO achieve a breakthrough in its "Doha round" of talks that will climax in December,
   "Because if we don’t, I think there’ll be a significant collapse of confidence in the capacity of the world acting multilaterally to solve some of our most deep-seated problems," the Australian leader said.
   As a leading light in the "Cairns group" of agricultural exporters, Australia has been in the vanguard of calls for trade liberalization, especially in farming produce.
   That has contrasted with the apparent reluctance of the United States and the European Union to go dramatically farther in reducing their own generous subsidies to their farmers.