GENEVA, July 28 (Chinese media) -- The World Trade Organization (WTO) Director-General Pascal Lamy is tabling a new compromised text today to push for a deal on global trade talks, his spokesman said Monday.
"We are going to put out the text because there has been an enormous amount of con
Ministers from over 30 major WTO member states have been engaged in crucial trade talks since last Monday, aimed at bridging lingering divergences on farm and industrial sectors to wrap up the long-stalled Doha Round this year.
Though convergence was observed in the past week of talks, an agreement was still far from being reached as a series of disputes remained unsolved.
Rockwell said the new text, which was to be presented to all 153 WTO members, had certain controversial sections in blank.
"You should be aware in advance that some sections in this text will be blank," he said. "On issues where there is no convergence now, we are going to leave the issues blank."
Rockwell listed cotton, special safeguard mechanisms, the creation of new tariff-free quotas and specific problems for some individual countries including South Africa and Venezuela as some of the issues remaining on the table.
"What is important to be taken into account now is that there has been enormous convergence in the last few days and what is on the table is very substantial," Rockwell quoted Lamy as saying to the delegates.
"There is a great deal of convergence, but I hasten to add nothing is agreed until everything is agreed," Lamy said. "In some cases, we have virtual agreements, but members are withholding final consensus approval until they see how things emerge elsewhere."
Lamy urged delegates to step up efforts toward compromises after the talks, originally planned to conclude Saturday, dragged into the second week.
"We now have questions of hours because the clock is against us," he said. "This is the moment to show the flexibility necessary to close the deal on remaining issues."
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment