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WTO Director General Pascal Lamy urged members to study the draft texts on agriculture and industrial goods presented by the respective negotiating Chairs recently (see earlier report ‘ WTO circulates revised blueprints of agriculture, NAMA texts' ) and come back “ready to engage in intensive negotiations”.
Opening the Trade Negotiations Committee meeting on July 26, 2007, Lamy said members had the whole month of August to examine the draft modalities in detail and to “be in a position to return to the process prepared to engage in an intensive negotiation,” on September 3, 2007, when the WTO recess ends.
“We have already come a long way in this Round, and the distance left to go is not so great -- but it will require an extra effort,” he said.
This effort, he added, “means being open to compromises, while still respecting the mandate and aims of the (Doha Development) Round. It means intensive work, knowing that there are no shortcuts. And it means negotiating with each other instead of trying to negotiate with the Chairs”.
The multilateral trade talks, known as the Doha Development Round, are deadlocked over the twin issues of farm subsidies that rich countries such as the US refuse to cut to levels acceptable to developing countries, as well as the refusal of developing countries to lower tariffs on industrial goods.
July 27, 2007
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