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Faltering Global Trade Talks Inch Forward at Meetings in Brazil: Officials

Posted on: Sunday, 2 April 2006, 09:00 CDT

Faltering global trade talks inch forward at meetings in Brazil: officials

RIO DE JANEIRO, April 1 (Xinhua) -- The troubled global trade talks inched forward at the two-day meetings in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, officials from the European Union (EU), the United States and Brazil said Saturday. The officials also said it is still possible to meet an April 30 deadline for agreeing on cutting tariffs on farm and manufactured goods although the World Trade Organization (WTO) still faces an uphill task.

EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson told a news conference "We do not have yet the contours of a deal, but neither do we have an empty canvas."

"There is a possibility of agreeing these modalities by the end of April," Mandelson said.

It was important to conclude the "Doha Round" of TWO negotiations, he added.

"This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity, once every 10 or 15 years, to reduce barriers to trade globally," Mandelson said.

"If it does not happen, then you not only lose that opportunity, and the gains to the world economy...but also you lose the development gains that the Doha Round was initiated for," he said.

U.S. Trade Representative Rob Portman said "We didn't always agree but we agreed we need to keep trying."

"I believe we inched closer to resolution," Portman said.

The U.S. trade representative stressed the get-together, which ended Saturday, was not a negotiating or decision-making session but an "exchange of ideas."

Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim said "We all know we need to move. We want a simultaneous movement."

"We did not get to any specifics. We identified our differences," Amorim said.

Launched in the Qatari capital of Doha in 2001, the WTO talks are designed to boost the global economy and lift millions out of poverty by lowering trade barriers.

The Geneva-based world trade body has a self-imposed April 30 deadline. Endite

Source: Xinhua News Agency - CEIS

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