Hong Kong's top trade negotiator has warned that a collapse of next month's World Trade Organisation talks would be a disaster for small countries and the global trading system.
"If we were to have two failed ministerials in a row, the whole multilateral system would lose its credibility and that would be disastrous for the world because the world is mainly composed of small members," John Tsang told reporters.
For his part, the EU trade commissioner, Peter Mandelson, ruled out any chances of a deal next month and said there was no guarantee of an agreement by the end of next year.
The Doha round started in 2001 with development as its centrepiece. The negotiations were supposed to benefit developing countries by granting them greater access to the markets of rich countries, especially in agriculture.
But four years on, there has been little progress and negotiators are scaling back expectations for next month's talks in Hong Kong. The Hong Kong ministerial meeting was supposed to produce a detailed blueprint for trade liberalisation, but the 148 WTO members will have to confine themselves to stock taking.
Notwithstanding the warnings of disaster, a bit of perspective is in order.
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