Wrecked WTO talks change the world trade game

0 Comments | AFP, July, 2008

GENEVA (AFP) — Ministers saw a "new order" take hold in global commerce Wednesday, with emerging economies calling the shots after WTO plans for a new trade pact collapsed in a feared blow for millions of the world's poor.

"One thing that we can celebrate is that deals here are no longer made just by the rich countries," said Brazil's Foreign Minister Celso Amorim, a key broker in the talks, standing alongside India's Commerce Minister, Kamal Nath.

"They have to take us into account and that will continue to be so," he told reporters, as ministers assessed the wreckage of the talks on the morning after their dramatic breakdown.

Delegates had struggled for nine days to reach consensus on subsidy levels and import tariffs for a new deal under the WTO's Doha...