September 29, 2006	Friday	Ramazan 5, 1427

GENEVA, Sept 28: Frozen talks on reducing barriers to global commerce could be revived and brought to a successful conclusion by the end of 2007, World Trade Organisation chief Pascal Lamy said on Thursday.

Mr Lamy said that he still believed it was possible for the 149 trading nations which make up the WTO to overcome their differences, despite bitter disputes that forced the suspension of the so-called Doha Round negotiations in July.

“The round could be concluded before the end of 2007. It's still doable,” Mr Lamy said in an interview with AFP.

However, he said, for such an outcome to be possible, trade negotiators would need to kick-start the stalled talks and reach a framework deal by the spring which bridges major gaps, particularly in the vexed area of farm trade.

“By mid-March at the latest there will need to be enough on the table to finish the round. In other words a deal on agriculture, which will lead to a deal on industrial goods, which will in turn lead to a deal on services,” said Mr Lamy.

Trade negotiators would then need six months to fine-tune the accord, filling in the details of how trade reforms would apply to each country and each product.

The Doha Round of multilateral trade talks began in the Qatari capital at the end of 2001, with the goal of reducing subsidies, tariffs and other barriers to commerce and raising living standards in developing countries.

But the talks have consistently been dogged by disputes between rich and poor nations, as well as among wealthy players such as the US and the European Union, over the concessions required.

A compromise among the heavyweights is seen as the key to the round.

The talks were suspended after the so-called Group of Six -- Australia, Brazil, the European Union, India, Japan and the United States -- failed to settle their spats.

Mr Lamy said that he hoped that the “psychological shock” caused by the freeze would spur a revival of talks by mid-November -- after elections in the United States, which have been seen by some observers as preventing a compromise by Washington.

But he said there was no point calling the G6 back to the negotiating table unless they changed their stance.

“I will only do it if there is a reasonable chance of seeing more flexible positions than in July. I am waiting for more political signals,” said Mr Lamy, who served as the EU's trade chief before taking the helm of the WTO in 2005.

The Doha Round was originally meant to end in 2004, but the farm trade issue has proven a major sticking point.

Developing countries are demanding deeper reductions in tariffs on agricultural imports levied by rich nations, as well as bigger cuts in farm subsidies which are accused of helping farmers in the wealthy world to undercut their poor competitors.

Rich countries, meanwhile, want key emerging nations such as Brazil and India to offer more open markets for industrial goods and services, such as banking and telecommunications.

The EU and US have also engaged in bitter sparring over agriculture, with Brussels demanding more reductions in US farm subsidies and Washington saying proposed European tariff cuts do not go far enough.

Another concern high in the minds of the trade community is that the special negotiating rights of the White House are due to expire next July.

This means that US lawmakers can decide take back the power to pick trade deals apart, which would be likely to undermine the confidence of other WTO members in anything Washington promises during future talks.—AFP