GENEVA, July 28 (Chinese media) -- Negotiators from over 30 major members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) started their second week of bargaining Monday in a bid to salvage a global trade pact, but no deadline is in sight.
"For this meeting now, we do not have a deadline," WTO spokes
Friday saw a tentative breakthrough in deadlocked talks on farming and industrial products after the negotiations had come to the brink of collapse.
However, talks during the weekend were clouded by new disputes between developing countries led by India and developed countries.
India is demanding more flexibility under the so-called special safeguard mechanism (SSM), which would allow developing countries to raise agriculture tariffs to protect domestic farmers in the event of an import surge.
And a long-standing dispute on bananas between the European Union (EU), the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries and Latin America is also threatening the delicate quest for a balanced deal, diplomats said.
The meeting had been scheduled to end by Saturday. The protraction forced delegates and journalists to cancel their flights and rush to find places for their extended stays.
With no deadline in sight, many worried whether they have brought enough shirts and ties to Geneva.
The meeting among 30-plus major WTO members, which began last Monday and had been prolonged into this week, was billed as the last chance to help wrap up the Doha Round. Any failure this time would mean another delay of several years.
The Doha Round, officially launched in 2001, had been deadlocked in the past seven years mainly due to differences between the developing and developed countries over agriculture and non-agricultural market access.
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