World Trade Organization (WTO) chief Pascal Lamy said Tuesday he was ready to call ministers back to Geneva in the next few weeks to try again for a breakthrough in the Doha Round trade negotiations.
"In the weeks to come, and depending on progress made by the negotiators, I am ready to call ministers to Geneva to try and close the issues which remain open," Lamy told a meeting of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).
Trade and agricultural ministers from some 35 WTO members met in Geneva in July for intensive negotiations but failed to reach an outline deal on agriculture and NAMA (non-agricultural market access), the two key areas in the Doha Round.
That was only the latest setback the Round had suffered since it was launched in 2001 with an aim to bring down trade barriers and promote development.
But Lamy said the July ministerial meeting, despite its final collapse on the details of the Special Safeguard Mechanism for agriculture for the developing world, "managed to fill many of the gaps existing on thorny issues which had remained intractable for years."
"I am convinced that a deal is still possible. I still believe that with yet another push we could still reach our target," he said.
But Lamy warned that WTO members are coping with a fragile situation and the next weeks will be difficult for them.
Senior officials from major WTO members, including the United States, the European Union, Australia, Japan, Brazil, India and China, have been meeting in Geneva since last week to explore the possibility of resuming the negotiations.
Their consensus is considered necessary to reignite the process.