The 6th WTO Ministerial Meeting in Hong Kong in December will not complete the current round of negotiations. Not even the European Commission is expecting the meeting to produce a new WTO agreement on further trade liberalisation. The official deadline, the end of 2004, for completion of the Doha Development Agenda has thus been missed. Officials of the EU Commission now refer to the end of 2006 as the new deadline. Our Association has always promoted a timely conclusion of the DDA. Yet it does not wish for just any conclusion. The outcome must bring considerable improvements for business because the initiation of a new round of negotiations after the conclusion of the DDA appears at present highly questionable. What cannot be achieved within the current Round will remain unchanged at WTO level for years.
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