Brussels, 25/11/2008 (Agence Europe) - This could be a decisive week for the Doha Round. The Round was launched in 2001 but has been deadlocked since the ministerial meeting in Geneva at the end of July collapsed, largely as a result of the dispute between the United States and India over the special safeguard mechanism (SSM) which allows developing countries to protect themselves in the event of agricultural import surges and price decreases (see EUROPE 9714). At the end of last week WTO agriculture mediator Crawford Falconer of New Zealand was warning that this would be an all-or-nothing week. There had been no tsunami of concessions despite the earthquake in Washington, he regretted, referring to the call from G20 leaders who met on 15 November in the US capital to lay the foundations of a new international financial system. WTO Director General Pascal Lamy wants to get the 153 member countries to provide new quantified commitments, through draft revised compromises on the modalities - technical arrangements - for liberalising agricultural trade and on manufactured goods (NAMA), before deciding whether to convene a new ministerial meeting in Geneva before Christmas (probably in mid-December) to conclude the Round. Lamy can now count on the political will that was so lacking in July. After the G20 on 15 November, the leaders of the APEC countries, meeting in Lima at the end of last week, called for the conclusion of the Doha Agenda for development. US President George W. Bush has said that he was “very determined” to get a deal before he leaves the White House on 20 January. As has been seen, however, (see EUROPE 9785), revised compromise texts remain a necessity. The negotiators for the 153 WTO member countries will, then, have to come to agreement this week on a number of thorny issues, such as the SSM, bananas and cotton. (E.H./transl.rt)