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Resurrecting WTO free trade talks: Doha Round not dead
Several smaller players in the World Trade Organisation are working
to resurrect negotiations on a global free-trade
pact.
New Zealand's Trade Minister Phil Goff has personally called US Trade
Representative Susan Schwab, EU trade commissioner Peter Mandelson, Brazilian
Foreign Minister Celso Amorin, and Pascal Lamy, the WTO
director general, to suggest renewed talks for the Doha Round.
The talks collapsed late in July, in large part due to bitter disagreement
between the US and the EU over tariff and subsidy levels related primarily to
agricultural products.
Goff suggested talks be rescheduled to coincide
with either the Asia Pacific Economic
Cooperation talks in Malaysia in November, or a less formal
meeting of Asian economic ministers in Malaysia later this month. Goff said that
Schwab had indicated that both she and Agriculture Minister Mike Johanns plan to
be at both of those events.
Goff said the talks are not quite dead, as has been reported. "It's on ice,"
he said. "There's a possibility of resurrection."
Editor WorldPoultry
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