Nears

World Trade: Seven-year Hitch in Wto Talks Nears Resolution

World trade talks showed “encouraging signs” last night which suggested a deal on the so-called Doha round of talks could finally be within reach after seven years.

In the latest round of “last ditch” talks among trade ministers at the World Trade Organisation in Geneva, WTO chief Pascal Lamy tabled new proposals which led European Union trade commissioner Peter Mandelson to declare that a deal was “possible”.

With talks set to go on through the night and weekend, Mandelson said: “There has been progress made, yes.”

The words were in contrast to gloomy signs from ministers all week. Mandelson said progress had been made in most areas of the talks, which are focusing on opening up trade in agriculture and industrial goods.

A spokesman for Lamy said new ideas to narrow gaps between rich and poor countries had emerged in five hours of talks among seven leading members – Australia, Brazil, China, the EU, India, Japan and the United States – and would be passed to a meeting of ministers from 35 countries for approval.

“There are some very encouraging signs of progress that have emerged, some very interesting ideas,” he said.

Earlier, Lamy had warned that the talks could collapse yesterday if member countries failed to narrow their differences, following intransigence on Thursday.

The Doha round seeks to liberalize trade by reducing import tariffs and trade-distorting subsidies. But Brazil and India have criticized the US and EU for failing to offer big enough cuts in subsidies and import tariffs, which make it harder to compete with American and European farmers.

Washington and Brussels say they have given ground in the talks and are waiting for the developing countries to make concessions on opening their markets to manufactured goods and services.

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