WTO's Lamy urges G8 to 'just do it' on trade talks

June 03, 2007 00:00:00

BRUSSELS, June 2 (AFP): World Trade Organisation (WTO) director general Pascal Lamy stressed yesterday the growing urgency of making a breakthrough in struggling free-trade talks, urging leaders of the Group of Eight (G8) richest countries to "just do it".

"There is urgency. We cannot maintain forever a trading system that is clearly unbalanced against developing countries," he told an economics conference in Brussels. "Time has come to deliver."

After nearly six years of tough negotiations, the latest round of free-trade talks is reaching a pivotal moment, with June seen by many participants as a make-or-break chance for real progress.

Differences, notably on trade in agricultural products, have blocked progress in the so-called Doha Development Round, launched with great fanfare in the Qatari capital in late 2001.