More trouble for WTO
Clock is ticking on global trade talks
By BRADLEY S. KLAPPER, Associated Press Writer
GENEVA - The EU, U.S. and leading developing countries need to make difficult concessions this week on opening up their markets or risk the possible collapse of the WTO's five-year global trade talks, the commerce body's top official said Wednesday.
Director-General Pascal Lamy used the strongest language yet in describing a meeting starting Thursday in Geneva of ministers from over 60 countries, saying that postponing decisions could wreck the talks.
Lamy called it "a moment of truth" in the long-struggling Doha round of commerce liberalization negotiations, which the World Trade Organization says could add billions of dollars (euros) to the global economy and lift millions of people out of poverty.
"Postponing decisions on the cuts to subsidies and tariffs until later in the year is a recipe for failure," Lamy told reporters.
The four days of scheduled negotiations is the largest WTO gathering since a failed conference in Hong Kong in December. The ministers are mandated to hammer out long-standing differences on the sensitive issue of opening up their markets to farm and manufacturing imports.
The complex talks, already two years behind schedule, have stalled as poorer countries demand the 25-nation European Union and the United States offer greater cutbacks in support for American and European farmers. The U.S. and EU in turn want major developing countries like Brazil and India to allow more foreign competition for their industries and services. Sniping between the EU and U.S. has also held up progress.
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