April 09, 2008	Wednesday	Rabi-us-Sani 2, 1429

PARIS, April 8: Negotiators have made progress towards a global trade liberalisation accord under the Doha round and a meeting of world trade ministers could now be held in May, the head of the WTO said on Tuesday.

“I will only take a decision to bring the ministers together if I have the feeling there is a reasonable chance of reaching an agreement, and for the moment it is possible that this could happen in May,” World Trade Organisation Director General Pascal Lamy told a press conference here.

Lamy said talks had not made sufficient progress to justify the calling of a ministerial meeting in April, as had been planned.

But ministers could now convene next month.

“There are already compromise proposals on the table that are extremely substantial and sophisticated,” he said. “What remains to be found is a final compromise.”

The Doha round of multilateral talks to reduce trade barriers, held under WTO auspices, was launched in the Qatari capital in November 2001.—AFP