HELSINKI, Oct 22: World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz said on Saturday all sides need to give some ground if the Doha Round of world trade talks is to succeed. Talks have deadlocked over tariff cuts, particularly in agriculture, and major players say the negotiations risk collapse before a key World Trade Organization (WTO) meeting in Hong Kong in December.

Wolfowitz said success was critical to improving the lot of developing countries.

Everyone, developing countries and developed countries, is going to have to give a little, everyone, in order to get this process moving forward, which will benefit everyone around the world, he told a news conference on a visit to Finland.

He added that while agriculture was crucial, there also had to be some give and take on services and industry.

Developing countries need to open up also and it’s not just agriculture, though I believe that’s the most important one for the poor countries, but there’s got to be some movement on services and manufacturing as well.

It needs movement on a broad front.

The World Bank president said benefits for developing countries would come almost as much from liberalising trade among them as between them and developed countries.

Major WTO players, including the United States, have accused the European Union of stalling progress towards a global trade pact by the December deadline by digging in its heels over imports.

WTO chief Pascal Lamy urged the European Union and the United States on Friday to make concessions on agriculture to achieve a breakthrough.

—Reuters