The European Commission is attempting to resolve its long-standing row with Latin American countries over banana exports by rolling the dispute over into the multilateral WTO Doha Development Round talks.
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The Doha talks restart in earnest on 3 September and an agriculture spokesman for the Commission said today (30 July) that it is negotiating with eight Latin American countries to secure a deal.
The move is “with a view to achieving an agreement acceptable to all parties on the future modalities of market access for Latin American bananas to the EU”, the Commission spokesman said.
Previous attempts to solve the 12-year-long row in isolation have failed. The spokesman said Brussels had not yet made a formal “new offer” to the countries – which include Costa Rica and Panama – but he confirmed talks are ongoing.
Any agreement reached “would have to be compatible with the overall outcome of the multilateral Doha round”, the spokesman added.

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By GlobalData