European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said on Sunday there would be no new world trade agreement at a summit in Hong Kong next month unless the United States and Brazil compromised.
A militant Korean farmers' group, considered among the world's most violent anti-globalisation groups, has been granted a permit for an upcoming trade summit in Hong Kong, an official website revealed.
For Amorim and the other negotiators from developing countries that have been run over by the rich world in trade talks for the past 50 years, this page has two words: Stand fast.
Top WTO negotiators said they had failed to bridge key differences on a global trade accord in talks this week and acknowledged that the scope of a crucial ministerial meeting in Hong Kong next month would have to be scaled back.
By Martin Khor, TWN Info Service on WTO and Trade Issues
WTO members invited to a 'super Green Room' meeting at the WTO headquarters have significantly scaled down their expectations of the outcome of the WTO's Hong Kong Ministerial conference in December.
Preparations for the World Trade Organization's important ministerial conference in Hong Kong were thrown into disarray following two days of fruitless ministerial talks in Geneva Nov. 8-9, where member governments essentially gave up on achieving their stated goals for the December gathering.
By Martin Khor, TWN Info Service on WTO and Trade Issues
A Mini-Ministerial meeting was under way at the WTO this afternoon in an attempt by the Director-General Pascal Lamy to provide some political momentum to the faltering preparatory process for the Hong Kong Ministerial conference in mid-December.
Trading nations still deeply divided on key issues faced the prospect of a watered-down WTO ministerial conference next month in Hong Kong, where they are hoping to put together a framework deal to lower global trade barriers.
Geneva Just how substantial a planned sixth ministerial meeting of the World Trade Organization in Hong Kong December 13 to 18 can be has been called into question because of the inability of trade ministers to reach agreement on full modalities in the Doha Development Agenda agriculture and nonagricultural market access talks
