11/04/2013 (Agence Europe) - EU-United States free-trade talks, threat to WTO? This is the concern of South Korean Minister for Trade Taeho Bark, one of nine candidates to take over from Pascal Lamy at the head of the WTO at the end of this summer. “I am worried that transatlantic negotiations will take up all of the resources of the EU and the United States”, the minister said in an interview with the German daily newspaper Die Welt of 10 April. Although he was optimistic about the conclusion of talks between Brussels and Washington, he fears that the WTO will find itself “in great difficulties, because even the large countries only have limited resources and personnel”. Bark lamented the “critical state” of the multilateral organisation, which is not able to stem the proliferation of bilateral agreements, even though these run counter to its principles. “We have lost the culture of dialogue within the WTO”, he said, promising that if he is selected, he will “move forward open dialogue”. (EH/transl.fl)