June 02, 2007	Saturday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 16, 1428

BRUSSELS, June 1: WTO director general Pascal Lamy stressed on Friday the growing urgency of making a breakthrough in struggling free-trade talks, urging leaders of the Group of Eight richest countries to “just do it”.

“There is urgency. We cannot maintain forever a trading system that is clearly unbalanced against developing countries,” he told an economics conference in Brussels.

“Time has come to deliver.” After nearly six years of tough negotiations, the latest round of free-trade talks is reaching a pivotal moment, with June seen by many participants as a make-or-break chance for real progress.

Differences, notably on trade in agricultural products, have blocked progress in the so-called Doha Development Round, launched with great fanfare in the Qatari capital in late 2001.

Raising pressure for a breakthrough in June, the US administration's authority to negotiate international trade deals expires at the end of the month and the Congress is in no rush to renew it.

“My own sense is that concluding these negotiations are not only technically possible, but politically a must,” Lamy said.

When leaders of the Group of Eight most powerful countries meet next week in Germany, Lamy said he would give them a three-word message on the trade talks: “just do it.”

Ahead of a key ministerial meeting of WTO powerbrokers the EU, the United States, Brazil and India later this month, Lamy warned against digging into positions that could jeopardize the whole negotiations.

“As we enter the crunch time in this pre-final phase, it is not unusual to see WTO members overplay their contributions and undervalue contributions by others,” he said. “This is an old trick.” —AFP