WTO Faces Crucial Test as Time for Talks Running Low

WTO Faces Crucial Test as Time for Talks Running Low
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Moscow Times
28 Jun 2006

GENEVA — The WTO is back on the ropes this week.

It either revitalizes struggling global trade talks or risks the collapse of a five-year effort to liberalize global commerce in a way that would add billions of dollars to global economic output and provide poorer countries with new means for developing their economies.



More than 60 ministers are expected in Geneva for World Trade Organization negotiations starting Thursday — the largest gathering since a failed conference in Hong Kong in December. They are mandated to hammer out long-standing differences on the sensitive issue of opening up their markets to farm and manufacturing imports.



But previous deadlines for WTO members to commit themselves to removing trade barriers have come and passed, always with new excuses for inaction and new... read more...