Archive for the ‘Talks’ Category
GENEVA (Reuters) – Global trade talks collapsed on Tuesday after a clash over agriculture between the United States and emerging powers, including China, India and Indonesia.
The breakdown came on the ninth day of marathon talks. The United States and India failed to find a compromise on measures intended to help poor countries protect their farmers against import surges, a diplomat said.
“We were so close to getting this done,” U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab told reporters at World Trade Organisation headquarters in Geneva. Global negotiators have worked on the Doha trade round for seven years.
“The U.S. remains committed to the Doha round. This is not a time to talk about a round collapsing,” said Schwab, who looked frustrated. “The U.S. commitments remain on the table, awaiting reciprocal responses.”
The collapse also prompted disappointment in other countries that had stood to gain from another round of trade opening.
“It’s really bad news. It’s sad to have lost so many years of work. For an emerging market, it is worrying to see a WTO that is not strong,” said Soraya Rosar, director of international negotiations with Brazil’s National Industry Confederation.
Failure to find agreement on the core agriculture and industrial goods chapters of the Doha trade round could delay any final accord on trade liberalisation for several more years.
Washington had opposed a push from India, China and Indonesia to secure measures to protect their farmers if faced with sudden surges of cheap farm
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Iran nuclear talks under way
Posted on: July 21, 2008
Jalili, Iran’s negotiator, has spoken ofhis “positive intentions” [AFP]
Iran officials have ruled out any halt to uranium enrichment, as widely anticipated talks on its nuclear programme began in Switzerland. There had been a positive mood before the meeting on Saturday, the first time in almost thirty years that senior US and Iranian diplomats had met face-to-face, but the remarks were likely to cast doubt on the value of the talks.
“Suspension, there is no chance for that,” Keyvan Imani, a member of the Iranian delegation, told reporters gathered in the courtyard of Geneva’s city hall.
Iran’s comments dampened hopes which had been raised by upbeat statements ahead of the talks, following Washington’s decision to send William Burns, the US under-secretary of state, as an observer. ‘Positive intentions’Manouchehr Mottaki, Iran’s foreign minister, had said he hoped the meeting would be “positive and constructive”. While Saeed Jalili, Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator, spoke “positive intentions” when he arrived in Geneva on Friday.On the European side, Christina Gallach, spokeswoman for Javier Solana, the EU’s diplomatic chief, said “the basis for successful negotiations is very substantial”.
“We are very flexible about how to work towards our expectations … we are ready to look at creative manners that allow negotiations to start,” she said.
A Western diplomat described the atmosphere of Saturday’s talks as “fine”, but confirmed that the Iranians were unwilling to address suspending uranium enrichment, or freezing it at current levels.The US has repeatedly said that real negotiations can only begin after Tehran halts its nuclear work.”That remains the US position and it will continue to be the US position,” Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state, said in Washington.De-escalation ‘vital'”We’ve seen a lot of resistance from various parties in the US to any escalation that may lead to a use of the military option against Iran,” Riad Kahwaji, who works for the Institute for Near East and Gulf Military Analysis in Dubai, told Al Jazeera. “It’s become very vital for both sides to de-escalate to try and reach a solution.”
The presence of Burns at the talks marks a policy shift for the US [EPA]
“Both sides are willing to make concessions but they’re trying to come up with a formula so that they don’t lose prestige in front of their own people or have to give up too many of their demands.”
The attendance of Burns, the number three official at the US state department, had widely trumpeted before the talks got under way, as a major policy shift by Washington, which has not had any diplomatic relations with Iran since 1980 following the Islamic Revolution.
“The key story here [in Geneva] is the presence of William Burns,” Nazanine Moshiri, Al Jazeera’s correspondent reporting from Geneva, said.
But she said Burns was keen to be seen as an observer.
“When they broke for lunch … Burns was keen not to be photographed with the rest of the delegates,” she said.
The US has said it is in Geneva just to listen to Iran’s response and not negotiate.
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After a months-long standoff, Microsoft and Yahoo are now engaged in active merger talks, people involved in the discussions said Friday.
Microsoft, which had threatened to abandon its bid, has increased its offer “by several dollars” per share, one of those involved said.
A deal, however, was not close Friday night, these people said.
The merger talks represent an enormous breakthrough after weeks of behind-the-scenes discussions without any progress. The exact terms being discussed could not be learned.
The talks would explain the public silence from Microsoft this week. It has refused to disclose its plans, despite its earlier threat to start a proxy contest if Yahoo did not reach a deal with it by last Saturday.
A person involved in the talks cautioned that they could still be postponed or collapse entirely.
Shares of Yahoo rallied on news of the renewed talks. They closed at $28.67, up $1.86, or almost 7 percent. Microsoft shares edged down slightly.
Some Yahoo shareholders said that the flurry of phone calls they are receiving from both Yahoo and Microsoft has intensified. The two companies have been trying to find out what price large shareholders would find acceptable.
In recent days, Microsoft has privately raised the possibility of increasing its offer, currently valued at about $29.30 a share, to as much as $33.
Some shareholders have signaled they are holding out for more than $35. One shareholder said he believed an offer of $34 would probably be sufficient to consummate a deal.
Microsoft and Yahoo declined to comment.
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