GENEVA, Dec. 17 (Chinese media) -- Concluding the Doha Round of trade opening talks should remain a focus of the World Trade Organization (WTO) next year, chief of the organization Pascal Lamy said on Wednesday.
"Looking ahead, our aims should not change," Lamy told a meeting of all WTO members.
"I do not believe that either the political will to preserve the achievements so far or even the necessity to do so will go away, even more so with the continuing deterioration of the economic situation," he said.
The seven-year-old talks have suffered many setbacks, mainly due to sharp differences in the fields of agriculture and NAMA (non-agricultural market access).
In a latest setback, Lamy decided on Friday to scrap plans for a WTO ministerial meeting this month, dashing hopes for an outline agreement on the two fields by the end of the year.
At Wednesday's meeting, Lamy proposed that "starting in the new year work should continue on agriculture and NAMA to close the gaps which remain." Negotiations on other topics should also pick up speed.
Lamy also suggested that WTO members move "on the wider front," which includes issues such as monitoring trade measures taken in relation to the financial crisis, trade finance and aid for trade.
While this year may end in disappointment, "we should now gather ourselves and work in 2009 to demonstrate that the WTO remains as necessary and credible as ever," Lamy told the meeting.
"Concluding the (Doha) Round should remain our focus in 2009. But this endeavor takes place within a more global portfolio of WTO activities in which we need to keep investing," he said.
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