After two days of negotiations, key trade ministers agreed on Friday 4th of September 2009 to relaunch the WTO Doha talks with intensified negotiations later this month.
WTO members’ chief negotiators will meet in Geneva from September 14th with the aim of completing the stalled Doha round negotiations by the end of 2010, as agreed by trade ministers in New Delhi.
The meeting did not look at any of the specific issues that remain open, such as a safeguard to help farmers in poor countries cope with a flood of imports which called the special safeguard mechanism (SSM).
Now WTO members are waiting for a signal from the G-20 Leaders meeting in Pittsburgh which will be held from 24-25 September 2009.
“Intensified Doha talks to resume this month”, REUTERS, 04/09/09, available at http://www.reuters.com/articlePrint?aticleId=USTRE58310Q20090904 (last visited 07 Sep 2009), and, “WTO Members Bank on Pittsburgh to Revive Doha”, ICTSD, 07/09/09, available at http://ictsd.net/i/news/bridges/54376/ (last visited 08 Sep 2009).
