KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 17: Breaking a six-year deadlock on the Doha round of talks to smash trade barriers is still possible but will require more trust between rich and poor nations, WTO chief Pascal Lamy said on Friday.

“Completing the Doha round is not only technically possible, it is a political must,” Lamy told a trade forum in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur.

“Given what is already on the negotiating table, and what remains to be done, my sense is that concluding this negotiation is both necessary and doable,” he stressed.

Breaking the impasse, however, would require crafty negotiators capable of trusting one another.

“Like many other economic challenges, at the end of the day, it is a matter of trust between partners,” he said, noting that trade negotiators were “clever tacticians” who will only go “the extra mile if they feel this will be reciprocated by other countries.” Launched in the Qatari capital of 2001, the Doha Development Round of trade liberalisation talks is aimed at cutting subsidies and import duties primarily to help developing nations to take advantage of expanding global trade.

WTO members, however, have failed to break an impasse over the extent of new cuts in barriers to trade in agriculture, industrial goods and services amid cross-cutting disagreements.

Developing countries have accused rich countries, led by the United States of protecting its agriculture sector in particular Lamy said that WTO members need to show political will if the talks were to move forward.

“All WTO members will have to make their contribution for the Round to succeed, each one according to its own level of development.”—AFP