WTO talks face collapse

0 Comments | AFP, July, 2008

GENEVA (AFP) — WTO head Pascal Lamy warned on Friday that talks on a global free-trade pact faced collapse as leading nations searched here for a way to break a seven-year log jam.

"We need to change gears very quickly to turn things around," Lamy was quoted as saying by his spokesman

Beginning a fifth day of meetings, diplomats and negotiators said that Friday would be make-or-break at the end of gruelling week of bargaining at the World Trade Organization which has produced scant evidence of progress.

"The situation as I see it is critical, edging between success and failure," said Lamy, who called the meeting of leading trading nations this week in what was a high-stakes attempt to finally broker a deal.

"Some convergences have been recorded but...