Economic crisis puts Doha on hold
17/12/2008
The director-general of the World Trade Organisation, Pascal Lamy, has announced that talks on the Doha Development Round of trade negotiations should end for the time being, while the global economy works its way through an economic crisis that "continues to deepen day by day".
Producers of cotton and other fibres in many developing countries have placed great hope in receiving a better price for their products in the world's most developed markets if the Doha Round reaches a successful conclusion. Developed economies have resisted this, until now, because of the harm they believe it could do to their own producers.
Mr Lamy insisted that WTO members were not too far away from agreement on agriculture and said he hoped talks could resume early in 2009.
He added: "I recognise that this situation is a disappointment for everyone, one that I fully share. However, we need to face reality and act in a way that is consistent with the responsibility we all share for the well-being of the multilateral trading system."
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