An agreement on a framework for agricultural negotia-ions will be critical for the success of the Cancun conference, says the US Trade Representative, Robert Zoellick. He told a trade symposium on September 4, that an agricultural agreement would boost chances for progress toward agreement on a framework for negotiations on market access for manufactured goods and for other parts of the Doha Development Agenda. In 2001 in Doha, Qatar, the WTO countries agreed to launch a new round of trade negotiations and set a January 2005 deadline for completing talks. Joint proposals on agriculture and manufactured goods submitted by the United States and the European Union set the stage for the Cancun conference by demonstrating that the two giant economies, which are sometimes at odds on trade issues, can cooperate when the stakes are high. But those proposals, must incorporate the views of other countries to provide a structure for further negotiations on specific goals.
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