Five Core WTO Members Open Route to Deal

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Five Core WTO Members Open Route to Deal
《华盛顿邮报》: WTO五重要成员国达成一致意见



(中文大意)

　　据此间出席WTO会议的主要谈判代表称，WTO的五个核心成员国经数小时讨价还价于周四上午达成一致意见，由此开启了通往所有成员国可望达成一致意见的贸易协议的大门。

　　这五个成员国是美、欧、印、巴和澳大利亚，它们认为是在147个成员国的组织中代表了广泛贸易利益的国家。WTO设定了周五子夜为其在四个重要领域内达成框架性协议的大限。这四个领域为农产品、工业品、服务业和新海关法。这次谈判旨在使失败的多哈自由贸易谈判回到原来轨道上。

　　据信这五个成员国会谈结果将可能设定WTO总干事素帕猜(Supachai Panitchpakdi)和总理事会主席(Shotaro Oshima)于周四下午向整个组织提出建议的基调。

Five core members of the World Trade Organization ended hours of hard bargaining early on Thursday with an accord that could open the way to a deal on a trade pact by the full membership, a leading negotiator said.
  
\"It brings the possibility of an agreement (of the full membership) nearer,\" the negotiator, who had been involved in the talks, told Reuters.

The five members are the United States, the European Union, Australia, India and Brazil. They are considered to represent a wide range of trade interests within the 147-state body.

The WTO has given itself a deadline of midnight Friday to reach outline deals in four key areas: farm and industrial goods, services and a new customs' code. The talks are intended to put the troubled Doha Round of free trade negotiations back on track.

The negotiator, who declined to be named or to provide details, said that the five members had agreed how to word all points in the hotly disputed text on agricultural reform, which is widely seen as crucial to an overall pact.

The outcome of the talks between the five was seen as likely to set the tone for proposals that the chief mediators, WTO chief Supachai Panitchpakdi and executive General Council chairman Shotaro Oshima of Japan, will put to the full body later Thursday.

\"They (the five) assume that they have given some political guidance for what would be a reasonable compromise,\" the negotiator said.

He added that he did not expect the mediators' draft to be ready before the afternoon.

However, a number of other members, including Switzerland, suspicious at the leading role assumed by the five, have warned that they will not be pushed into a deal just because the big trading powers like it.