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GENEVA: Some members of the WTO clung to the ashes of a draft towards a global trade pact Wednesday, saying that progress achieved during the past nine days should not be ditched despite the collapse of negotiations.
"It's too early to say, but the bottom line is we can't give up," said Indian Ambassador Ujal Singh Bhatia after talks between key trading powers - particularly the United States and India - failed to yield consensus Tuesday.
"We have too much at stake, we have invested too much in this round," he said.
"It would be a very good beginning if whatever understanding we have achieved in this one week are in one way or other captured in revised texts."
Indian Trade Minister Kamal Nath also said that while he did not know what the next step would be, "we've got to pick this up."
Meanwhile, Indonesian Trade Minister Mari Elka Pangestu who coordinates the G33 group of developing countries said the grouping "continues ready to take a positive and constructive approach to any next steps and subsequent follow-up".
"We must take a wider and broader term perspective and hope there can be a continuing process to resolve the unresolved issues whilst keeping the positive results already achieved," she said.
In a news conference, the Director-General of the WTO, Pascal Lamy, assessed that time was needed before the 153 members could decide on how to proceed.
"We will need to let the dust settle a bit, it's probably difficult to look too far into the future at this point," he said.
"WTO members will need to have a sober look at if and how they bring the pieces back together."
For now, EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson said that what needs to be done was to "make sure the damage is contained, the blow that is inflicted is limited as much as possible", and to work "as hard as possible to restore that confidence" in the WTO.
US Trade Representative Susan Schwab also said the United States would "stand by our current offers."
"I hope that we will find ourselves in a negotiating setting where there will be more ambition on the table and we can be a part of seeing the vision that wants (to see) the Doha Round, the Doha Development Agenda, to a conclusion."
Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim, a leading negotiator at the talks, said he was "very disappointed that we were not able to close the round," but insisted that the game was not over yet.
"We have a good package, a package that would be positive for world trade... but especially positive for LDCs (a group of least-developed countries) and other poor countries in Africa."
- AFP/yb
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