BRUSSELS, Sept 25: The World Trade Organisation could get swamped by a wave of trade disputes needing to be refereed if its members fail to agree a global WTO deal, a senior EC official warned on Tuesday.

“If we don’t get a deal ... there will be a proliferation of cases which could put the dispute mechanism system under major strain,” said David O’Sullivan, director general of the Commission’s trade department.

“I dont think you can expect the (WTO) dispute settlement mechanism to solve all the problems we failed to solve through negotiation,” he added.

The Doha round of trade negotiations, covering agriculture, industrial goods and services, was launched in the Qatari capital in 2001 in an attempt to increase trade flows largely for the benefit of poor countries.

But the talks slumped into deadlock, missing a 2004 deadline amid squabbles between rich and poor countries, and disagreements between the world’s leading trade powers, the United States and the European Union.

Poor and emerging market countries have notably accused rich nations of distorting the global market for farm products with their state subsidies.

WTO negotiators have tried once again to make headway, leading to a shift in Washington’s position on farm aid.—AFP