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GENEVA (AP) - The WTO's top official laid out a draft for next month's Hong Kong summit, underscoring just how much work needed to be done to salvage even a watered-down agreement.
World Trade Organization members are eager to reach a deal at the Dec. 13-18 ministerial meeting, but the 42-page draft unveiled by WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy showed how far they are from agreeing on critical issues including the liberalization of trade in farm products and manufactured goods.
"Clearly, we would all have liked to see a more operational text by now, but this is where we are," Lamy told delegates Saturday at the organization's Geneva headquarters. "The current draft does not seek to establish a final balance here and now — that is for the end of the round, which is not where we are now."
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