Consensus eludes Cancun on Day 2

As farm talks remained stalled on the second day of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) ministerial meeting, developing countries seemed to have succeeded in silencing poor countries' demands for duty cuts in specified sectors.

Though it is too early to predict the outcome of the five-day ministerial, facilitators involved in ironing out rifts over numerous contentious issues, spent long hours in trying to reconcile hugely divergent positions.

The second day also witnessed the entry of Nepal and Cambodia as new members of the multilateral body. The countries are the first least developed countries to join the WTO since it was established in 1995.

By the end of the second day, Singapore's Trade and Industry Minister George Yeo Yong-Bon, the facilitator for agriculture, was easily the busiest man at the ministerial.

He had spent hours trying to build a bridge between the US-EU combine and the group of 22 developing countries.

The facilitator will wait until Saturday evening for countries to bury their differences, failing which he would release a hybrid text.

The G-22 alliance, comprising India, China Brazil and Argentina among others, appeared to be united despite pressures from the US and the European Union.

The alliance today roped in Turkey, an aspirant for the European Union membership, in the formation and initiated talks with the African and least developed countries to garner their support.

Another alliance with India, China and Malaysia as prominent members of the coalition of nearly 70 countries appeared to have succeeded in its attempts to block negotiations on investment, competition, trade facilitation and transparency in government procurement, collectively known as the Singapore issues.

These countries were of the opinion that the Singapore issues did not belong to the WTO and members could not initiate talks when they were not sure of the scope and coverage of the agreements.

"Those who want to launch negotiations are in a minority," Malaysian Trade Minister Rafidah Aziz said at a press conference.

Aziz also said members of the coalition were against unbundling of the four issues.