Marathon talks on the World Trade Organization's first-ever worldwide trade reform in Geneva failed early on Monday to agree on a text to put to ministers who meet in Bali next month.
The fate of the agreement to streamline customs procedures and speed up global trade could now hang on whether the ministers can overcome remaining differences when they gather early next month at the WTO's biennial conference in Bali.
The International Chamber of Commerce says the deal would add $960 billion to the world economy and create 21 million jobs, 18 million of them in developing countries. It would also revive confidence in the WTO as a forum for trade negotiations.
The proposed accord includes elements of the Doha round of trade talks, which began in 2001 but repeatedly failed to produce an agreement over the subsequent decade.
WTO Director-General Roberto Azevedo has forced diplomats from the 159 member countries through a punishing 10 weeks of talks to try to agree a text for the ministers to rubber-stamp.
Azevedo said on Friday he hoped to clinch a deal over the weekend. But the final Geneva negotiating session finished at 7 a.m. without agreement...
Unresolved issues include an Indian crop stockpiling plan that is exempt from WTO subsidy rules and a challenge to the U.S. economic embargo on Cuba. Turkey also has concerns about new rules on transit, while there is Central American resistance to demands to stop using customs brokers to handle trade...
This has been excerpted from 25 November 2013 article by Reuters, and is available in its entirety at http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/11/25/us-wto-idUSBRE9AO00T20131125.