Brussels, 25/01/2007 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday, before going to Davos, the main European negotiator at the WTO, Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson, called on the business world to speak out in favour of resuming talks (EUROPE 9351). This has now been done. On Thursday, 7 European organisations representing European business made a joint appeal “to revive the Doha Round and conclude it successfully as soon as possible”. The round has been deadlocked since formal talks were suspended last June following the impasse on the agricultural chapter. The organisations are: -Eurochambres, the Association of European Chambers of Commerce and Industry; - the American Chamber of Commerce in Europe, AmCham EU; - the Confederation of European Business, BusinessEurope; - European Services Forum (ESF); - the European Chamber of Commerce, Eurocommerce; - the Foreign Trade Association, FTA; - and the Trans-Atlantic Business Dialogue, TABD. “Too much time has been lost already”, they say in a joint press release, adding: “European businesses urge all WTO member governments to make their contribution to revive the Doha Round”. “The key to success is to overcome disagreement over certain aspects of agricultural policy such as agricultural protectionism, which raises prices for consumers and hinders imports from poorer countries. If farmers need support, less trade-distorting methods should be used”, the representatives of European industry and services businesses stress, calling for new WTO commitments on the dismantling of tariff and non-tariff trade barriers, the liberalisation of trade in services, the modernisation and harmonisation of customs procedures (trade facilitation), and the improvement of multilateral rules on antidumping and regional trade agreements. (eh).