KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 10: Malaysia urged the European Union on Saturday not to leave any vital concessions to the last minute at next week’s trade talks in Hong Kong, saying that otherwise frustrated delegates would “go shopping”.

Malaysian Trade Minister Rafidah Aziz said she was not optimistic about the prospects for the World Trade Organization (WTO) meeting and that if it failed, 11th-hour negotiating tactics by the EU would likely to be to blame.

“I want to single out the European Union. They must have better offers by the time Hong Kong comes,” she told reporters on the sidelines of Southeast Asian ministerial talks.

“If they are going to stay firm with the offers they have at present, I don’t see anybody going to be happy in Hong Kong,” said the outspoken minister.

“People are not interested in last-minute gambits or trump-card business... then people people will say — okay, why should I stay in the room? Then the whole thing in Hong Kong is a shopping trip.”

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) has pledged its support for the implementation of the Doha round of trade talks which ran into an impasse at the World Trade Organization’s 2003 meeting in the Mexican resort of Cancun.—AFP