The World Trade Organisation hopes that trade powers will renew efforts to reach a deal in the long-running Doha talks to free up global commerce this year, WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy said on Thursday, according to Reuters. Lamy, speaking at the U.K. Department for International Development, said developing countries were particularly at risk from the slowdown in trade caused by the global crisis. "Today it is clear that trade is one of the casualties of this economic crisis and that we run the risk that one of the engines of growth -- in fact, one that is very important fo many developing countries -- stalls," he said, according to a text of his remarks issued by the WTO. The Doha round was launched in late 2001 to boost world trade and help developing countries export their way out of poverty, but agreement has proved elusive.
