Malaysia's chairmanship of the General Council of the World Trade Organization (WTO) is challenging now that the Doha Round of global trade talks, with a specific focus on development, has reached a critical stage, says the Malaysian Finance Ministry.
Chances are now slim of concluding the Doha Round by the year- end after the breakdown of trade talks among the four key players, the United States, European Union, India and Brazil last June, the ministry said in its 2007/2008 Economic Report released on Friday.
While the immediate focus is to attain agreement on the three key issues, agricultural tariffs, agricultural subsidies and industrial tariffs, negotiations on other areas of the Doha Development Agenda such as services, safeguard mechanisms and intellectual property rights remain equally challenging, it said.
Malaysia assumed the chairmanship of the General Council, the WTO's highest decision-making body, in February this year, according to the report by the national news agency Bernama.
Source: Xinhua
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