Cheerleading for WTO's Doha round of talks

SYDNEY, Sept. 21 (UPI) -- Australian Prime Minister John Howard, who is hosting World Trade Organization trade talks, and the head of the WTO, are predicting success.

The so-called Doha round of talks have stumbled and been given up for dead many times, but Howard and Pascal Lamy put on a game face Thursday as negotiators went at it one more time.

"Things do not look good at the moment with the Doha round, but we must not be deterred," Howard said. "If we persist, I remain optimistic that we will ultimately achieve a breakthrough."

Lamy said there are three obstacles, all surmountable.

"My view is that it is pretty unfortunate that the negotiations broke down over a few thousand (metric) tons of beef, a few thousand (metric) tons of poultry and a few billion dollars of trade-distorting subsidies," Lamy said.

"Are these problems insurmountable? Probably not. In my view, the negotiations unravelled (earlier) because too many negotiators focused on the small picture rather than the big one. They took this quantum leap for granted, focusing on what was missing."