Two week "break" for WTO agriculture talks
6 Oct 2007
After the 21 September open-ended agriculture meeting in WTO, the agriculture talks are scheduled to begin after a two week break from the 8 October. This was announced by the agriculture negotiations Chair, Ambassador Crawford Falconer at the WTO.
Most delegates believe that the real negotiations will proceed in small groups, including in the expanded G8.
At the meeting a few members directly or indirectly criticised the existence and operation of a small group of members, which they said would detract from the transparency of the multilateral process. Although they did not mention the G8 or G8-Plus by name, it was apparent that they were referring to this process.
According to a diplomatic source, the G8-Plus will meet again at higher level from first week of October, while a lot of technical work will continue among group members next week.
At the meeting, Falconer also gave a report on the extent of progress on various issues. For more details on Falconer’s report read Martin Khor’s article at www.twnside.org.sg
Resource: TWN Info Service on WTO and Trade Issues
Released on: 2 October 2007
