1970-01-01 08:33:27
The G8 industrialized nations must give active support to the Doha Round global trade talks so that a successful outcome could be achieved by the end of the year, the chief of the World Trade Organization (WTO) said on Wednesday.
Addressing a meeting of WTO ambassadors in Geneva, Pascal Lamy said he would send "a strong message" to the G8 leaders when he attend an extended G8 meeting in Germany later this week.
"We need their active support in order to achieve the successful and balanced outcome everyone is seeking," Lamy said. " They should look at the big picture, which is the fate of the multilateral trade system."
The Doha Round of trade talks were launched by WTO members in the Qatari capital in 2001, with an aim to boost global economy and helping poor countries through fairer trading conditions.
But the talks have been stumbling all the way mainly because of sharp differences among major WTO players on agriculture subsidies and tariffs.
Considering political factors in the United States, WTO members have set end of 2007 as a new target for the trade talks to conclude. If the new target is missed, the Doha Round could either fail or face years of dormancy.
Lamy stressed on Wednesday that the time available to break the agriculture deadlock is increasingly limited and the Doha Round needs the G8's constant attention in the coming weeks.
He also urged WTO members to further intensify their negotiations either in the WTO's Negotiating Groups or in other configurations in order to reach agreement, mainly on agriculture trade and non-agricultural market access.
"Time is really not on our side now, and we must make every day count," Lamy said.
(Xinhua)