Visiting Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Pascal Lamy on Wednesday called for relaunching the Doha Round of talks on world trade.

He made the appeal while attending a ceremony commemorating the 20th anniversary of the Uruguay Round of talks, which gave rise to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), the predecessor of the WTO.

If the Doha Round of talks fail, the current multilateral trading system will gradually deteriorate, he warned. "Should the Doha Round succeeded, the total elimination of export tariffs would have begun," Lamy told the local media.

All WTO members have agreed that if the negotiations reach a successful conclusion, they will significantly increase market access.

The Doha Round of talks, which remained inconclusive for nearly five years, were indefinitely suspended in July due to bitter differences among major WTO members, particularly on agricultural issues.

Source: Xinhua