Key players look to bolster consensus at world trade talks

0 Comments | AFP, July, 2008

GENEVA (AFP) — Top negotiators prepared Sunday to try to firm up emerging signs of consensus on a new global trade pact, with signs that marathon talks here will spill into another week.

Key players in the delicate negotiations were buoyed Saturday by broadly positive talks on the services sector but were due to return on Sunday afternoon to the crunch points of farming and industrial products, with some countries still unhappy with the compromise on the table.

"The process of engagement is continuing, and this process will continue again tomorrow. So I'm optimistic," said India's Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath on Saturday after almost five hours of meetings with his counterparts.

WTO spokesman Keith Rockwell told AFP on Sunday morning that...