WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. and European Union leaders pledged on Wednesday to work for a successful conclusion of world trade talks, which have been stalled because of disagreements over agriculture and other issues.
"We agree on the importance of making the upcoming World Trade Organization meeting ... in Cancun a success so that we can energize the global trade negotiations," President Bush said during a news conference.
Top trade officials from the 146 countries of the WTO will gather in Cancun, Mexico, in September for a midterm review of trade talks launched in November 2001 in Doha, Qatar. Leading up to that meeting, negotiators have missed every major deadline.
European Commission President Romano Prodi told reporters it was vital the United States and the EU step up their efforts. "Without close cooperation between the United States and Europe, there will be no success," Prodi said.
The U.S.-EU summit took place as EU farm ministers continued debating a plan for revamping the EU's Common Agricultural Policy. Europe's reluctance to curtail its farm program has been a chief stumbling block in the WTO talks.
U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick and EU Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy echoed the leaders' comments, but said WTO members faced a huge challenge to finish the talks by 2005.
Zoellick stressed the importance of EU agricultural trade reform to the Doha negotiations and said the United States and the EU were working closely together on other areas of the WTO talks -- including industrial goods and services.
Zoellick also indicated there could be some U.S. movement before the Cancun meeting on a drug patent issue important to many developing countries.
Last year, the United States blocked an agreement aimed at ensuring poor countries would be able import generic versions of patented life-saving drugs without violating WTO rules.
U.S. pharmaceutical companies said the language opened the door for generic manufacturers in India and Brazil to produce and export many of their biggest money-making drugs, including Viagra, the anti-impotence pill.
Zoellick said pharmaceutical companies were interested in trying to resolve the issue before Cancun.
FAIR USE NOTICE: This page contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. NoNonsense English offers this material non-commercially for research and educational purposes. I believe this constitutes a fair use of any such copyrighted material as provided for in 17 U.S.C § 107. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond fair use, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, i.e. the media service or newspaper which first published the article online and which is indicated at the top of the article unless otherwise specified.