African foreign ministers urged here on Saturday rich members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) to show flexibility during the ongoing Doha Round trade negotiations.
The African foreign ministers made the call in a draft resolution on the second day of the 13th ordinary session of the African Union (AU) Executive Council ahead of an upcoming AU Summit in the Egyptian Red Sea resort.
The draft resolution said WTO members, especially rich ones, should honor their commitments and show more flexibility during the prolonged Doha Round, which is launched in 2001 with the aim to boost world trade.
Calling for ending the Doha Round talks without undermining Africa's development process, the African foreign ministers expressed full commitment to reaching a just and balanced world trade system based on multilateral trade.
According to earlier reports, WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy said Friday that WTO members must make "maximum effort" in the next few weeks to ensure that a July ministerial meeting could lead to a breakthrough in the Doha Round.
Addressing a meeting of WTO ambassadors, Lamy reconfirmed his decision to convene a mini-ministerial meeting from the week of July 21, which aims to break the deadlock on farm trade and industrial market access, the two crucial and most difficult issues in the Doha Round.
Source:Xinhua
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