the World Trade Organization (wto) set up a special subcommittee on cotton on November 19, 2004, to address the issues concerning cotton trade "ambitiously, expeditiously and specifically'. The step was a compromise for the four West African nations, which had asked for a prompt end to billions of dollars of subsidies given to cotton producers, mainly in the us and the eu, in 2003.

A landmark wto decision in May 2004 had ruled in favour of Brazil, which had claimed that us subsidies were damaging its cotton trade (see