The head of the World Trade Organization said Wednesday that G-8 leaders must focus strongly on free trade if their efforts to lift Africa out of poverty are to be successful. WTO Director-general Supachai Panitchpakdi told a summit in Edinburgh that the Group of Eight industrialized nations were not paying as much attention to the trade issue as they were to increasing aid to the continent and debt relief, AP reported. «It would have been a good opportunity here for the leaders of the world to send very strong signals ... to abide by the letters of their commitments at the launch of the Doha round,» said Supachai, referring to the round of trade talks launched in the Qatari capital in 2001. The talks aim to slash subsidies, tariffs and other barriers to global commerce, including rules restricting access for foreign service providers. --More 2033 Local Time 1733 GMT
