WTO chief calls for intensive Doha Round negotiations in Sept

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GENEVA, July 27 (Xinhua): WTO members should study the draft texts on agriculture and industrial goods carefully and get ready for intensive Doha Round negotiations in September, chief of the world commerce body Pascal Lamy said yesterday.
"We have already come a long way in this round, and the distance left to go is not so great -- but it will require an extra effort," Lamy told a meeting of the WTO's 150 members.
Doha Round negotiations, launched in 2001 with an aim to promote development by breaking down trade barriers, have been stalled for years because of sharp differences on the specific numbers of tariff and subsidy cuts, particularly in the field agriculture and industrial trade.
WTO mediators of the negotiations last week circulated draft texts on liberalising trade in agriculture and industrial goods, including the possible ranges of tariff and subsidy cuts, so as to challenge WTO members and guide them toward consensus.
As Lamy said, WTO members are expected to study the draft texts carefully during the summer break and come back to Geneva in September for a new round of intensive negotiations.
"I would urge all of you to fully use the month of August to examine the texts in detail, to consult, discuss and engage bilaterally among you," Lamy said.
"It is important that everybody be fit and ready on the starting line at that time," he added.