Lamy calls for special WTO Ag mtg next Tuesday

Trade. Former European Union Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy, who became director general of the World Trade Organization last week, has summoned agriculture negotiators to a meeting next Tuesday on the Doha round.

But there are signs that trade officials do not expect progress before the mid-December meeting of trade ministers in Hong Kong. Crawford Falconer, the New Zealand ambassador to the WTO who is the new chairman of the agriculture talks, told agriculture negotiators that next week they should "make brief comments on their thoughts after the summer break," and he is willing to meet with them, a Geneva source said. Falconer said negotiators should consider themselves on "permanent" call during the nine weeks leading up to the Hong Kong meeting, although he has set aside the week of Oct. 17 for more formal talks.

The source said Falconer told negotiators that "there has to be concrete evidence of movement in positions in order to make meetings worthwhile." U.S. Trade Representative Portman said last week he was "optimistic" Lamy could re-energize the Doha round talks, according to the Associated Press. But Portman added: "I think we have to lower expectations because the talks have lagged. We have not made the progress over the last year or so that all of us hoped for.