World Trade Organization Director General Pascal Lamy has set the end of June as the latest deadline for the body's 149 member states to breathe life into the long-running Doha round of talks by agreeing on formulas to lift barriers in agriculture, manufacturing and services.
"In the Doha round, agriculture is the most important issue. If the distortions in global trade in agricultural produce go uncorrected, the talks cannot succeed," Chinese Commerce Minister Bo Xilai said.
Bo was speaking on Thursday during a meeting of Asia-Pacific trade ministers in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam's commercial capital, which Lamy is also attending to try to keep the talks alive.
Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Karan Bhatia said at the meeting that China and other emerging economies bore a special responsibility to ensure the talks did not fail.
"China has been an enormous beneficiary of global market access and so it's going to have to play a significant role in bringing this round to a successful conclusion," he said on Thursday.
But Bo said the onus was on the United States and the European Union to cut the farm handouts that penalize poor-country producers.
"The United States and the European Union need to continue work on farm issues and come up with practical cuts. They have to make to make more of an effort if the deadlock in the agricultural negotiations is to be broken," he said.
WTO ministers are due to meet in Geneva, the headquarters of the trade watchdog, on June 26 with the aim of sealing a final deal by the end of the year. The talks began in 2001. [Reuters]
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