A meeting of key WTO Ministers being held in the margins of the OECD Ministerial Council Meeting in Paris (the meeting is being hosted at the Australian Embassy) has assumed increasing importance with the breakdown of the WTO negotiations on non-agricultural market access. Unless Ministers can agree to some changes to their positions on industrial tariffs we could be looking at a suspension of the entire Doha Round for the rest of the year. This Reuters report summarises the state of play.
This meeting will be a good test for Australia's Trade Minister Simon Crean. As host of this meeting we assume he will bee in the Chair. Great if the breakthrough occurs but if the meeting fails......
