The World Trade Organization (WTO) chief called for advancing the long-running Doha Round of global trade negotiations on Monday, when the organization convenes its seventh ministerial conference to review its work.
The three-day meeting will be "a chance for ministers to reflect on all elements of our work, exchange ideas and extend guidance on the best way
forward in the years to come," said WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy in Geneva.
Doha accord negotiations, which have been dogged by disagreements since it was launched in 2001, are discussed as expected despite not being
formally on the agenda of the conference.
Lamy said the Doha Round of negotiations are "a vital part" of the WTO's work, and ministers will definitely have a lot of discussions about
this topic. But the conference itself is not intended to be a Doha Round negotiating session, he added.
"The WTO is about much more than negotiations. Ministers will take up the entire spectrum of its activities, trading thoughts and ideas on how we can make our organization more vibrant, efficient and effective," he said.
Lamy listed a range of WTO activities to be discussed, including vigilance against trade protectionism, the resolution of trade disputes,
helping poor countries improve trade capacities, membership enlargement, and cooperation with other international organizations to tackle global
challenges such as climate change.
As the highest decision-making body of the WTO, the ministerial conference is supposed to be held every two years. However, since the sixth
conference was held in Hong Kong, China, in 2005, the WTO's 153 members had largely focused on the stumbling Doha Round of trade negotiations, resulting in the delay of this gathering.
Eight years after its launch, the complex Doha Round is still not in its end-game as WTO members are still not closing gaps on such key issues as agricultural tariffs, subsidies and industrial market access. After several
missed deadlines, WTO members have set a new deadline for concluding the round in 2010.
Although no decisions will be made on the Doha Round at this latest ministerial conference, Lamy expressed hope that ministers would take the
chance to review progress so far and give guidance to negotiations in the next few months.