World Trade Organization (WTO) chief Pascal Lamy formally recommended on Monday the suspension of the Doha Round of global free trade talks, after a meeting of six key trading powers collapsed.

"Faced with this persistent impasse, I believe the only course of action I can recommend is to suspend the negotiations across the Round as a whole," Lamy told an informal conference of the Trade Negotiations Committee, which comprises all the 149 WTO members.

That means all work in all negotiating groups should now be suspended, and the same applies to the deadlines that various groups were facing, he later told reporters at a press conference.

The WTO chief said that negotiators clearly need serious reflection. "Time-out to review the situation, examine available options and review positions."

He did not suggest any date at which the talks might resume. Some analysts indicated that the suspension could last at least for a few years. Others said, with this suspension, the Doha Round risks a complete death.

Lamy said ministers of the so-called G-6, namely the United States, EU, Japan, Australia, Brazil and India, held lengthy and detailed negotiations on Sunday and Monday, but "the gaps remain too wide."

He said the main blockage was on agriculture, with the U.S. and the EU both accusing each other of not offering enough for an agreement. The U.S. required the EU to further cut farm tariffs while the EU demanded the U.S. to further reduce trade-distorting domestic subsidies.

Because the gaps in agriculture were so large that the issue on industrial market access, which mainly involve major developing nations such as Brazil and India, was even not discussed during the two-day meeting.

"It is now clear that it will not be possible to finish the Round by the end of the year, as mandated by the WTO ministerial meeting in Hongkong last December," Lamy said.

He said there was no "winners and losers" in such a situation, actually all WTO members were losers.

He indicated that the economic impact of the current failure would not be felt immediately. But the targets of eliminating trade-distorting subsidies and realizing tariff-free and quota- free market access for least developed countries would obviously be affected.

"Failure, in my view, would also send out a strong negative signal for the future of the world economy and the danger of a resurgence of protectionism at a time when the pace of globalization is weighing heavily on the social and economic fabric of many countries and when geopolitical instability is on the rise," he said.

Lamy also promised that he would continue to defend the integrity of the WTO system and to continue to assist WTO members to reach agreement.

Source: Xinhua