Brussels, 10/12/2003 (Agence Europe) - Returning to a low profile after an informal meeting of representatives of the 146 present in Geneva, the World Trade Organisation seems to be preparing to cancel another date on the timetable, 15 December, when it had hoped to be able to reactivate negotiations on the Doha Development Agenda, which are still suspended since the failure of talks in Cancun (see EUROPE of 13 November, p.13, on the subject of the ambitions announced by Keith Rockwell for this meeting next week.
"We have made progress on the road to total relaunching but we are not there yet and we need more time", Carlos Perez del Castillo, President of the General Council (WTO's decision-making body), said on Tuesday. In his capacity as president he is responsible for negotiations. The Uruguayan ambassador nonetheless refused to speak of "failure". "I prefer to call it work that is not yet complete", he said during a press conference at the institution. He summarised the situation by saying they had noticed very little fully-fledged negotiation, or movement toward accommodating the various stances or search to reach common ground, so that many delegations have noted that the feeling of urgency is missing. He said he tended to agree with them. If the hoped-for agreement is not reached on rekindling the round of talks, the WTO General Council next Monday should simply reactivate the eight thematic working groups to ensure that negotiations can continue next year. However, according to Perez del Castillo, if they do not undertake concrete negotiations and if they do not seek common ground early next year, then he fears they will not be able to prepare the ground for future negotiations.