The WTO's Doha Round of negotiations, which collapsed last month, will not be suspended indefinitely but may take at least five or six months to reopen, a senior economic official said yesterday.
Steve Chen (
Chen was previously involved in the nation's foreign trade negotiations.
He said the GATT, the WTO's predecessor, had contributed significantly to global trade, from which Taiwan had also benefited.
If multilateralism suffers as a result of the setback in the Doha Round, it will negatively affect the trade and economic liberalization agenda -- which will not only hurt export-oriented Taiwan but also other developing countries, he added.
Because of the severe consequences, Chen said he believed that the talks would not be delayed indefinitely, although his most upbeat forecast was a delay of five to six months before talks would be reopened.
Bureau of Foreign Trade Director Huang Chih-peng (