Agence France Presse
GENEVA, March 27 (AFP) - The first round of World Trade Organisation agriculture talks (WTO) was constructive and showed good hope for the possibility of an accord, WTO director general Mike Moore said on Monday.
"Delegates have clearly done their homework. They had found out from each other exactly what could be achieved and spoke almost as one voice," Moore said, referring to the two-day session that ended on Friday.
"Several (delegates) said they would have preferred the talks to go faster or to give them more time, or for the talks to be organized differently, but they didn't dwell on this and so they reached consensus swiftly," the New Zealander announced in a statement.
Ambassadors from the WTO's 135 member states met to decide on a calender for agriculture negotiations during 2000.
"This is the WTO working at its best. The hard bargaining still lies ahead and I am sure that will be much more difficult. But the goodwill shown at this meeting is a good omen for the future," Moore stated.:
