The Director-General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) has ruled out a food liberalisation deal under the Doha Development Round this year.

An agreement is also unlikely in 2012 because of the upcoming US presidential elections.

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However, Pascal Lamy has called for a more limited agreement at December’s WTO ministerial meeting.

Lamy wants the removal of trade barriers and duties on exports – including on food –from the world’s poorest countries.

He also stressed no WTO member government wants to abandon a broader Doha deal in the long run. “It is time we roll up our sleeves and restart working – that is, negotiating,” Lamy told a WTO trade negotiations committee meeting in Geneva today (31 May).

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