By Liu Guoyuan
Many analysts are still pessimistic about the outlook of the Doha Round of global trade negotiations, despite recent positive signs.
Following a mini-ministerial meeting held on Sept. 3-4 in New Delhi, senior officials of key WTO members agreed here Tuesday on a work plan aimed at pushing forward the long-stalled negotiations in the next few months, which was claimed as a Doha Round breakthrough.
But many analysts see these positive signs as superficial, as the tough issues that have blocked the talks since their launch in 2001 are still unresolved and key WTO members are not moving their positions. The issues involve farm tariffs and subsidies as well as industrial market access.
The meeting in New Delhi, which was attended by more than 30 trade ministers, reiterated a WTO goal to conclude the whole round of talks by the end of 2010.
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