Acting USTR chief heads to Kenya for WTO meeting

Acting USTR chief heads to Kenya for WTO meeting    Acting U.S. Trade Representative Peter Allgeier will meet with other trade ministers in Kenya this week to continue advancing the World Trade Organization negotiations.
   The meeting on Wednesday and Thursday will focus on agriculture, goods, services, trade facilitation and development.
   The WTO negotiations, started in 2001 as the Doha Development Agenda, were stalled for years because of agriculture-trade disputes. A breakthrough agreement for an agriculture framework occurred at the July 2004 WTO General Council meeting in Geneva.
   “In continuing to provide leadership to advance Doha, we will continue to also press all the WTO members to step up and contribute, because Doha truly provides the best opportunity to promote continued global economic growth and hope and opportunity,” Allgeier said in a statement Monday.
   Joining Allgeier at the meeting will be Amb. Allen Johnson, chief agriculture negotiator, and Dorothy Dwoskin, assistant U.S. trade representative for WTO and multilateral affairs.