EU trade commissioner says there is no chance of a deal at WTO summit
There is no chance of a 'Hong Kong II' meeting early next year if World Trade Organisation ministers fail to sign off on an agreement to reduce agricultural trade barriers at their meeting here next month.
Secretary for Commerce, Industry and Technology John Tsang Chun-wah, host minister for the meeting, made the remarks yesterday - as European Union Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson said there was no chance of a deal.
Mr Tsang said: 'No further meeting will be held in Hong Kong because we only agreed to hold this one conference in December and we have had to spend a year preparing for it and if you don't have a year, you can't get it done.'
He was responding to remarks this week by Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim that a 'Hong Kong II' meeting might be needed as 'a negotiation tactic'.
The agenda for the next year was too tightly set to have another meeting, Mr Tsang said.
Mr Mandelson was later reported as saying that EU offers on barrier reductions had been rebuffed by 'very aggressive' farming countries such as Brazil, Australia, New Zealand and the United States.
