World Trade Organization Director-General Pascal Lamy reported to the WTO General Council on Tuesday that the G20 meeting in April will provide further impetus to the work of completing the Doha Round of global trade talks. Lamy pointed to an informal gathering hosted by Swiss Minister Doris Leuthard last week where trade ministers recognized the major progress made in 2008.
"It is clear that trade has become one of the casualties of the economic crisis. We have already witnessed a sharp decrease in world trade," Lamy said. "Our biggest challenge today, therefore, is to ensure trade is part of the solution as opposed to aggravating an already serious crisis which risks making the recession longer and deeper."
The Director-General also said that the WTO's role in this crisis must go beyond its function as a safety net of rules. In December Lamy said they have started to act on a number of fronts to assess and where possible be part of the solution to the current crisis.
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