In Davos, nations vow to extend global trade deal
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/W/WORLD_TRADE?SITE=VANOV&SECTION=BUSINESS&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
In Davos, nations vow to extend global trade deal
By JOHN HEILPRIN
Associated Press
Jan 25, 12:50 PM EST
DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) -- Trade ministers from many of the world's biggest economies pledged to broaden a deal to boost global trade Saturday, with the U.S. saying nothing is off-limits for discussion.
At a Swiss-hosted meeting on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum, ministers from China, the European Union, Japan, the U.S. and 15 other nations agreed to build on the "positive momentum" of a World Trade Organization summit last December in Bali where the organization's 159 member economies agreed to cut customs red tape.
The ministers agreed to address the most difficult remaining negotiating topics of agriculture, market access and services that eluded an agreement last month in the first WTO deal since the global trade body was formed in 1995, said Swiss Economics Minister Johann Schneider-Ammann, who hosted the meeting.
He said the world economic powers agreed to "promptly" build on the Bali agreement with "a particular focus on issues important to least developing countries."
unhappycamper comment: Oligarchs. Never liked them, never will.