Will WTO Be Able To Resume Doha Round?

ByJohn S. McClenahen After the disabling disagreements among the 146 World Trade Organization (WTO) countries at last month's meeting in Cancun, Mexico, can the Doha Round of international trade talks successfully resume? Right now it's a major question without an answer -- although one could come in mid-December at a scheduled WTO General Council meeting of senior officials. But there are some tentative signs that the negotiations, slated to conclude by Jan. 1, 2005, will resume. Following talks with WTO members, "our assessment is encouraging," WTO General Council chairman Carlos Pèrez del Castillo said at WTO headquarters in Geneva this week. "My sense is that everyone continues to support a strong and reinforced multilateral trading system and that they are willing to engage and show the necessary flexibility in order to get the process, which was derailed in Cancun, back on track."