WTO talks end with Doha round still deadlocked

The World Trade Organisation wrapped up its ministerial meeting Saturday still deadlocked on the Doha Round of negotiations for a global free trade pact with some ministers calling for a new path.Conference chairman and Nigerian Trade Minister Olusegun Aganga voiced his regret at the impasse, according to a draft copy of a statement due to be issued at the end of the day.It calls on the WTOs 153 member states to more fully explore different negotiating approaches and intensify their efforts to look into ways to overcome the stalemate.Launched a decade ago in the Qatari capital, the Doha Round of negotiations has faltered, as developing and developed countries failed to bridge entrenched positions on cutting farm subsidies and lowering industrial tariffs.With the talks at a standstill, ministers had arrived in Geneva knowing full well that their three-day meeting was not a negotiating session.The main bright spot of the conference was Russias accession to the world trade body this week after a record 18 years of negotiations.Russia applied in 1993 but talks dragged on and its brief war with Georgia in 2008 further delayed its application as Tbilisi was able to veto Moscows application by virtue of its WTO membership.Besides Russia, the WTO on Saturday ushered in two other countries -- Samoa and Montenegro -- to its fold, although parliaments in all three nations must first ratify the move.Beyond the expanding membership, there was little progress on the Doha Round, with some ministers saying blatantly that negotiations would not bear fruit if they continued in the same direction, a point made by the G20 summit in November.With this ministerial conference, it is clear that we are turning a page in our decade-long pursuit of the Doha Development Agenda, said Ron Kirk, US trade representative.It is crystal clear that gaps exist not only in non-agricultural market access, but indeed across the broad scope of the Doha agenda, he added.The frank recognition that our current path is simply not leading in a fruitful direction is the only logical place to start if we are to find a better and more productive path for conducting negotiations within this institution, Kirk told the ministerial meeting.EU trade commissioner Karel De Gucht admitted at a press conference that WTO member states needed to recognise that our credibility has been seriously damaged by our failure to get Doha off the ground.