[WTO Doha Round] abandons plans to hold trade meeting

from Business Week

The WTO has abandoned plans to hold a major ministerial meeting here this week because differences between major players on how to liberalize world trade remain too wide, the head of the commerce body said Monday.

The decision means the World Trade Organization's 149 members will miss an end-of-April deadline to agree on precise formulas for cutting farm and industrial tariffs, WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy said after a meeting of senior negotiators.

"It is not good news but we have to face reality," Lamy said. "We have a missed deadline but we have no deadlock. Negotiations have been moving forward in the recent past."

The deadline was a key step toward concluding the WTO's Doha round -- named for the Qatari capital where it was launched in 2001 -- by the end of the year. Negotiators will now try to agree on the formulas as soon as possible in the hope of setting up a conclusion to the talks by the end of the year.

Time is particularly tight for the entire Doha round because of the July 2007 expiration of the U.S. "fast-track" authority, which requires the U.S. Congress to either accept or reject international deals as a whole, without being able to pick them apart line by line.

"I don't think it's good news for the round, but I don't think either that we should cry over the missed deadline," Lamy said.

No new deadline was being set but that work needs to be stepped up if members are to conclude the negotiations in time, he added.

"It is absolutely imperative to organize this in an intensive, continuous and effective way if we are to make up for lost time and fulfill our ultimate deadline of concluding the round this year," he said.

The Doha round aims to boost the global economy and lift millions out of poverty worldwide by lowering trade barriers across all sectors, with particular emphasis on developing countries.

But the complex talks have stalled as poorer countries seek greater concessions on farm aid from the European Union and United States, who in turn want major developing countries like Brazil and India to liberalize their industrial and services sectors. Sniping between the EU and United States has further stalled progress.

"We have made progress, but not enough," added EU Ambassador Carlo Trojan.