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In Geneva, on Thursday, at the request of WTO Director General Pascal Lamy, the ambassadors of the 149 WTO member nations, meeting in General Council, officially agreed to suspend Doha Round talks indefinitely after the stalled meeting on 24 July when the major G-6 trading powers (EU, United States, Brazil, India, Australia and Japan) were unable to reach a compromise on the modalities (figures and other provisions) for trade liberalisation in agricultural products and non-agricultural manufactured articles (NAMA).

A few days after the collapse of negotiations at the WTO, delegates of many developing countries are pondering over several issues that have emerged over the proposal, mooted by WTO director general Pascal Lamy and supported by the Ministers of the G6 members, to suspend the Doha negotiations across the board.

It was a very quiet day at the WTO today, as few diplomats turned up at the building following the breakdown of the Doha negotiations on Monday.

A decision has been made at the WTO to indefinitely suspend the WTO's Doha negotiations across the board after the breakdown of the meeting ofG6 Ministers that took place on Sunday and Monday.

This op ed was carried in the main NZ newspaper, along with two others urging the government to refine its bilateral strategy and get moving.

Following the collapse of trade talks among the Ministers of theG6 countries late Sunday night, European Union Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson on Monday blamed the United States for failing to show flexibility on the issue of farm subsidies.

tralian Trade Minister Vaile is mistaken to put his faith in bilateral deals following the collapse of the WTO negotiations. This is not a time to retreat into bilateral deals, which are even more unfair to developing countries and medium sized economies like Australia.

Yesterday

According to various reports, the 14 hour meeting on 23rd amongst the G6 ministers ended in the early hours of the morning of the 24th. Ministers did not even get around to discussing NAMA.

Global commerce talks at the World Trade Organization collapsed Monday as top powers failed to agree on steps toward liberalizing trade in farm and manufactured goods.