6th Ministerial, Hong Kong 2005

Pascal Lamy is a man with a mission. Since assuming the post of Director General of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in September 2005, the former Trade Commissioner of the European Union has taken to heart his role as the captain of global trade, hoping to steer the 148 Member countries of the WTO into concluding a new multilateral trade agreement under the Doha Round the soonest possible time.

The success of the Doha Development Agenda services negotiations will result from the number and quality of 'revised offers' which eventually come forward, said services negotiations chair Fernando De Mateo...

Sitting together in a newly constituted General Council, World Trade Organization members yesterday vowed to conclude the Doha trade negotiations - but continued to differ on how to do so.

Coming from the mini-ministerial meeting at Davos, the US Trade Representative, Ms. Susan Schwab, told reporters at a media briefing that there was palpable optimism and a sense of urgency to have a breakthrough in the negotiations.

Enough with the grandstanding: let's get down to the numbers. That was the attitude struck by trade ministers who last weekend pulled the so-called 'Doha round' of trade talks out of semi-retirement for one last shot at the world title.

Your editorial is mistaken in its claim that there must be 'more ambitious' offers from developing countries on goods and services in the WTO trade negotiations

As negotiators of some select WTO member nations attend a “Mini-Ministerial” meeting at Davos, it is important to take into consideration several aspects of the current U.S. reality regarding the USTR’s lack of ability to gain Congressional approval for new U.S. offers in the Doha negotiations.