WTO scrambles for fresh options on trade pact

0 Comments | AFP, July, 2008

GENEVA, (AFP) — Top negotiators prepared to turn to fresh proposals Monday in a bid to nail a new global trade free trade pact despite growing discord and warnings that years of painstaking negotiations could unravel at the last minute.

Squabbles among emerging economies threatened to shatter fragile gains in the fraught quest for an agreement, as top negotiators slogged on into a second week of talks.

Delegates said much remained unresolved after a meeting late Sunday that sought to cement a tentative breakthrough on farming and industrial products.

US Trade Representative Susan Schwab accused emerging economies of delaying an agreement.

"We had a path on Friday for a successful outcome on Friday night. It wasn't perfect, but it was delicately...