XINHUA GENERAL NEWS SERVICE | February 24, 2004HEADLINE:
SAN JOSE, Feb. 23 (Xinhua) --Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Supachai Paniitchpakdi expressed his confidence that the deadlock hindering the Doha negotiations would soon be overcome.
The 146 WTO members would reach agreements on key areas in June in order to conclude the Doha Round by the end of this year, Supachai said in an interview with the Costa Rican daily La Nacion published on Monday.
"We are seeing an opening in all the groups that participate in the round. There is a new political will and we are advancing at full steam," he said.
The WTO chief arrived here on Saturday night as an observer to the Group of Cairns ministerial forum held from Monday to Wednesday.
The group, set up in 1986 to oppose rich countries' agricultural subsidies, currently comprises Argentina, Australia, Bolivia, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, the Philippines, Guatemala, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Paraguay, South Africa, Thailand and Uruguay.
Supachai said that during the ministerial meeting held last September in Cancun, some countries were not ready to resume negotiations but some progress had been made in the last months.
Top leaders of some key WTO members reached consensus at a meeting on Dec. 15 last year on the need to conclude the Doha Round, he said.
The United States proposed in January that all WTO members decrease agricultural subsidies to boost the Doha Round, he added.
"There are known positions. What we need is to find a balance and move forward. I ask all the members to reach a global agricultural agreement by mid-year," he stressed.XINHUA GENERAL NEWS SERVICE:
