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WTO summit concludes without any 'substantive agreements'

The World Trade Organization's biennial ministerial conference ended Dec. 13 without any "substantive agreements" among the 164 members.

"Progress was going to require a leap in members' positions. We didn't see that," said WTO Director General Roberto Azevedo. "We need to do some real soul-searching," he said in a Reuters report Dec. 14.

In his opening remarks Dec. 11, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said the trade body has lost its focus on trade negotiations and has become too fixed on litigation.

Ministers who attended the meeting in Buenos Aires failed to agree even on minor proposals on e-commerce and fishing subsidy curbs. European Union Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom said this showed the deficiencies of the WTO negotiating system, which requires unanimity among all member countries.

"Procedural excuses and vetoes from one member or another, cynical hostage taking, have led to the sobering result of today," Malmstrom said in the Reuters report.

In the absence of agreements, trade ministers focused on the WTO's post-conference work programs, such as measures to enhance market efficiency and deter excess industrial capacity, Reuters said, quoting WTO spokesman Ken Rockwell.