The 150-member WTO has three weeks to get multilateral talks back on track in the wake of failed talks by four key powers in Germany, trade sources said on Friday.
WTO director general Pascal Lamy brought all members together to discuss the way forward for the stalled Doha round of trade talks, which remain mired in an impasse over agricultural subsidies and trade tariffs among other issues.
Multilateral talks would continue at the WTO headquarters in Geneva until the middle of next month, at which point a decision would be taken on whether to hold a ministerial meeting, the sources said.
The talks in Potsdam between the so-called "G4" -- the EU, the US, Brazil and India -- broke down on Thursday, amid recrimination over who was to blame.
Nevertheless, Lamy told the WTO's Trade Negotiations Committee that he had spoken to all the G4 ministers separately, "and that all four have told me they want the process to continue here in Geneva."
"I have repeatedly stressed that the core of the negotiation is the Geneva process -- the only place where decisions can and should be taken," he said.
Trade sources said the chairs of the WTO's key agriculture and non-agriculture market access committees should present fresh papers to the members at the beginning of next month.
"The need now is for urgent action to restore confidence that these negotiations can and will be finished successfully," Lamy said.
Brazil's top negotiator at the talks, Foreign Minister Celso Amorim, blamed the EU and the US for the collapse of the G4 talks, saying the two developed powers had arrived at Potsdam with their minds made up on how much they were prepared to offer, and what they expected from the other two parties.
"What they agreed, they considered to be the agreement," he said.
This was denied by US officials, with Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns telling reporters that there was no pre-summit stitch-up between Washington and Brussels.
RSS