WTO talks reach make-or-break point

0 Comments | AFP, July, 2008

GENEVA (AFP) — Crucial World Trade Organisation talks entered make-or-break mode Friday as negotiators struggled to avert the collapse of the seven-year attempt to broker a global free-trade pact.

Beginning a fifth and planned final day of meetings, diplomats and negotiators admitted that little progress has been made so far but hoped talks in the hours ahead could yet yield a breakthrough.

"As long as the ministers are in town, there is an opportunity of striking a deal," Norwegian Foreign Affairs Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere told AFP.

But he added that on "critical issues, distances (between the parties) are wide ... Until there is some movement on these, we are not there."

One diplomat who declined to be named said there has been little positive...