WTO TALKS ON LIBERALIZATION OF SERVICES TO RESUME

WTO TALKS ON LIBERALIZATION OF SERVICES TO RESUME    The World Trade Organization’s general council agreed on Tuesday to resume talks to liberalize services and agriculture.
   The talks on services, including air and maritime transport services, were on the agenda of last December’s WTO ministerial conference in Seattle, but they were not discussed during the meeting.
   The WTO said that services talks will take place in special negotiating sessions of the council for trade in services. The first session is scheduled at the end of the month.
   Similar discussions will be convened concerning agriculture.
   “Today’s decisions show that the WTO is very much in business,” said Mike Moore, director-general of the trade body.
   The negotiations on services are required under current WTO rules such as those of the General Agreement on Trade in Services.