Brussels, 20/10/2009 (Agence Europe) - Speaking before the General Council of the WTO in Geneva on Tuesday 20 October, Pascal Lamy warned his audience that the Doha Round could not be concluded in 2010, the deadline agreed between the principal economies of the planet in July at the G8 meeting in L'Aquila and in September at the ministerial meeting in New Delhi, "without seriously speeding up the pace of the negotiations". "We need real negotiations to emerge, not just informal consultations and discussions, but genuine exchanges between members", insisted the director-general of the WTO, who nonetheless welcomed progress made at technical level, even though it is not yet enough. Mr Lamy added that the seventh ministerial conference of the WTO, scheduled to be held in Geneva from 30 November to 2 December, would be an "important platform" of the negotiators, including European Trade Commissioner Catherine Ashton, to send a strong signal of their commitment to conclude the round, adding that this meeting would not provide for any negotiations, but that it would be a forum to take stock of progress made. According to the president of the General Council, the Chilean ambassador to the WTO Mario Matus, the Doha Round is one of the two items on the meetings agenda, together with an examination of the WTO's contributions to economic relaunch, growth and development. In addition, said Mr Matus, the trade ministers are expected to adopt a number of reports, called for by the member countries at the Hong Kong conference of December 2005, linked to subjects such as cotton, small economies, infringements of WTO rules and electronic commerce. (E.H./transl.fl)