GENEVA: Trade chiefs will avoid negotiating on the 10-year-old Doha commerce liberalization round at a meeting in Geneva next week.
Diplomats say the Dec. 15-17 ministerial meeting of the World Trade Organization will focus on efforts to conclude an agreement opening up billions of dollars’ worth of government procurement contracts to foreign competition.
Ministers are also expected to formally approve Russia, Samoa and Montenegro as WTO members.
But WTO spokesman Keith Rockwell said Friday that "there will not be any Doha negotiations" at the event.
The Doha round was launched in Qatar’s capital in 2001 with the intention of boosting global trade. Disagreements between major trading nations such as Brazil, China and the United States have since paralyzed the talks.
