GENEVA, Nov 23 (Reuters) - The World Trade Organisation
(WTO) expects to hold a ministerial meeting next month to seek a
breakthrough in the Doha round, following calls from G20 and
APEC leaders to secure a deal, diplomats said on Sunday.
"I think there is a very high probability," U.S. ambassador
to the WTO Peter Allgeier told journalists when asked about the
probability of ministers being invited to Geneva in December.
No date has yet been set for a ministerial, officials said
after a meeting of about 30 ambassadors at the WTO headquarters.
But the diplomats said they expected it would occur mid-month.
"The window that we have is not that big," one official said.
Last weekend, a financial crisis summit of the Group of 20
major industrialised and developing nations called for an
outline Doha deal to be reached by the end of 2008 to ward off
protectionism and boost business confidence.
And the 21 member countries of the Asia-Pacific Economic
Cooperation group (APEC) -- including the United States, China,
Japan, and Australia -- said in a statement on Saturday that
they were committed to reaching a basic deal in the WTO's
farming and industrial goods talks next month.
"We direct our ministers to meet in Geneva in December to
achieve that objective," they said. "We and our ministers are
intensifying our engagement with WTO counterparts to create the
convergence necessary to achieve this outcome."
(Reporting by Laura MacInnis)
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