FarmPolicy

Doha Developments, Price Concerns and Biofuels

An article posted yesterday at Bridges Online (Weekly Trade News Digest) indicated that, “WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy rolled the dice last week, summoning ministers to Geneva later this month in a risky bid to salvage a deal in the troubled Doha Round of trade talks.

“The move is a gamble. Despite recent progress, significant divisions persist, particularly on how deeply governments should have to cut farm subsidies and industrial tariffs as part of a multilateral accord. Similar differences caused earlier pushes for a deal over the past two summers to break down in acrimony.

“Whether this year will prove any different will hinge to a large degree on the extent to which trade negotiators succeed at narrowing differences on agriculture and non-agricultural market access (NAMA) over the next two weeks.”

(more…)

Posted by Keith Good • July, 3, 2008 • 6:18 am