Unless there are major concessions between now and July 27, Pascal Lamy, director-general of the World Trade Organization, will recommend to the group's General Council on Thursday of this week, that the Doha Round of world trade talks be suspended.
"I do not intend to propose any new deadlines or a date for resumption of activity in the negotiating groups," Lamy said in Geneva, Switzerland on July 24.
The Doha Round was launched in November 2001 in Doha, the capital of Qatar.
The talks have been marked by sharp disagreement between developed and developing nations over agricultural tariffs and subsidies and over market access issues that also affected manufacturers.
The talks, now more than a year behind their initial schedule for completion, involve 149 nations.
