Crawford Falconer, New Zealand's Ambassador to the World Trade Organization, told embassies that he would like to hold an "informal special session of the WTO Agriculture Committee" - the formal name for the negotiations - starting at 11 in the morning Friday in Geneva, Switzerland, trade sources say, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The Doha round talks were suspended last July after negotiators failed to break a deadlock over how far to cut import tariffs and farm subsidies. Ambassadors to the WTO agreed last week to resume the multilateral talks, even though there has been no evidence that last July's subsidy - tariff impasse has been settled.
Falconer has held several sessions with groups of negotiators since last July's suspension, and two updating meetings open to all delegations. Friday's talks will be the first time agricultural negotiations from all 150 WTO member governments will return to work. It appears unlikely that the resumption of the talks on Friday signals any breakthrough, trade observers say.
Source: Feedstuffs
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