Brazil hopeful of WTO accord before US polls
Afp, New Delhi
Brazil Tuesday held out hope for an agreement on the Doha Round of talks to liberalise global commerce despite a deadlock hit last month among key members of the World Trade Organisation. "No, the Doha Round is not dead, I have hope" for an agreement, Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim told reporters in New Delhi, referring to talks launched in the Qatar capital Doha in 2001. Amorim, who is in New Delhi to attend a trilateral meeting of foreign ministers of India, Brazil and South Africa, said it was important to focus on targets rather than deadlines to clinch the all important deal. If the United States could agree to a "substantial reduction in subsidies" and "elimination of export subsidies" it would speed an accord that would be seen as "a very important legacy of the Bush administration." Amorim said it would be "useful" if the 150-member WTO "could have something done before the US gets into election mode for presidential polls due in November 2008. "So if you work now with the target of some sort of agreement by September or maximum early October that would still allow for a full agreement before the elections in the United States. That would be the best thing," Amorim said.
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