WTO meeting cancelled after protests

Is the latest round of WTO trade negotiations already dead?

WTO Director General Pascal Lamy has cancelled a 'mini ministerial' meeting which was intended to finalise negotiations in the controversial trade round. The meeting would have excluded most countries from the developing world, and was cancelled following angry protests from developing countries, NGOs and trade unions.

'Developed countries only have themselves to blame for this cancellation,' said Mike Waghorne, Assistant General Secretary of Public Services International (PSI), the global federation for public service trade unions. 'The speed and agenda of these negotiations has been rushed to suit the US President, who may soon lose his freedom to negotiate an agreement,' said Waghorne. He was referring to the expiry in 2007 of President Bush