[Ip-health] Reuters on stalling WTO negotiations

[Mike Palmedo]

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/business/20031215-0346-trade-talks.html

WTO chief sees trade talk progress but not enough

By Richard Waddington
REUTERS

3:46 a.m. December 15, 2003

GENEVA =96 The head of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) said on Monday
states had made progress towards a full re-launch of free trade
negotiations, but were not there yet.

The 146 WTO member countries were meeting in Geneva to assess the
chances of getting the Doha Round back on track after it was all but
derailed by the collapse of ministerial talks in Cancun, Mexico, in
September.

Mediators had already ruled out any possibility of an immediate
fullscale resumption of the negotiations, which were launched in the
Qatari capital in late 2001, and the meeting was largely aimed at
setting a new timetable.

"Our collective aim for today, as instructed by ministers at Cancun, was
to arrive at a point where the negotiations can resume full momentum,"
WTO Director-General Supachai Panitchpakdi told trade envoys.

"We are not yet at this point but we should not be disheartened," he added.

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