WTO chief praises EU-U.S. trade efforts

2005-11-02 From The Associated Press

PARIS (AP) — The head of the World Trade Organization on Sunday praised European Union and U.S. efforts toward reaching an agreement on agriculture that could help break a deadlock in world trade talks.

Pascal Lamy, speaking on French television, credited an EU offer announced Friday as "serious and worthy of a serious discussion" — and matched up fairly with recent U.S. proposals.

Lamy, who said Washington had also presented "interesting" proposals recently, said the EU offer carried the condition of making progress on other areas of trade.

"The Europeans and the Americans are in the process of moving on the agriculture issue," he said on LCI television. "It is good news. It is what could break the deadlock in the negotiations."

The European body offered Friday to cut average agricultural tariffs by 46 percent, its steepest ever farm tariff cut — an offer EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson has called "Europe's bottom line."

President Jacques Chirac has said France, a top agricultural producer, "reserves the right" to veto any deal among the WTO's 148 member states if it requires any more European farm reforms. The French government has not made any official comment on the EU offer.