Indonesia appeals WTO members to save agreed deals

All members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) need to save the deals agreed in Geneva and pend the unresolved issues at the upcoming Ninth Ministerial Conference (MC9) to lift the opportunity for reviving the "Doha Round" talks, Indonesian deputy trade minister Bayu Krisnamurthi said here Wednesday.

Bayu's remarks came following WTO's 159 negotiators on Monday failed to clinch a deal during marathon talks in Geneva. The bulk of the trade deal, the mini-package of the repeated stalled Doha round of talks launched in 2001, is about slashing barriers to global commerce. "It would be a shame if all the things agreed were held hostage by unfinished negotiations," the deputy minister told reporters at a press conference. Bayu added that if WTO members at MC9 are willing to take one more step to save what has been agreed and pledge to overcome remaining differences, the meeting will also be a new note of the holding of the WTO Ministerial Conference.

The Ninth World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference will be held in Indonesia's resort island Bali from December 3 to 6 this year.