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Tuesday, 08 April 2008 10:58 |
Reuters
Washington (Reuters) - Negotiators are "very, very close" to resolving a handful of technical agriculture issues standing in the way of a ministerial meeting that could cement agreement on a new world trade deal, a top U.S. official said on Monday.
Joe Glauber, the top U.S. agriculture negotiator in the Doha round, told reporters that negotiators in recent Geneva talks had finally reached a breakthrough for moving ahead in the stubborn issue of sensitive products, which are goods sheltered from full tariff cuts.
"If this can get resolved -- and one to two other issues -- we'll be in position to move forward," said Glauber, who is also the Agriculture Department's top economist.
Key players in the World Trade Organization's Doha round, bogged down over sensitive farm and industrial trade topics since the talks were launched in 2001, could finally be approaching an overall breakthrough.
WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy has said he could call ministers together before the end of next month to make the final horse-trading that would seal a deal.
The goal is to strike an agreement on the framework of a new world trade deal, which would lower trade barriers and aim to stimulate commerce just as the world seeks to repel economic downturn, in the next month or so in order to have time to finalize details by around the time President George W. Bush leaves office.
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