WTO boss thinks world trade regime is tragic, was an attention-grabbing aside in a John Humphry's article, summarised by Daily Summit on Sunday.

We contacted WTO's press office and they helpfully pointed us to the source of this remark. According to Moore, the tragedy is subsidies to farmers in rich countries.

"The globalised economy is still full of contradictions. Today, the world sugar market contains some of the largest and most blatant forms of trade protection. Having exploited developing poor countries for generations, the north now keeps their products out of their markets. Protectionist policies distort prices and therefore economic incentives, leading to wasted resources and environmental degradation. Subsidies lead to over production which drives prices down and provides incentive to dump surpluses on world markets, which in turn puts agriculture producers in the developing world at a severe, and deeply unfair, disadvantage."