Brazil for WTO meeting on sidelines of G8
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Friday proposed holding a summit meeting of the World Trade Organisation on the sidelines of the G8 meeting of industrialised nations in Saint Petersburg in July.
"The time has come to involve directly the leaders in order reach a breakthrough in the negotiations" from the Doha Round of trade talks which have currently stalled.
The WTO needs to "give a political boost" to the trade talks, Lula said at an European Union-Latin American summit in Vienna.
His proposal hopes to use the G8 meeting as the catalyst for progress as leaders from the United States, Japan, Britain, France, Germany, Canada, Italy and hosts Russia gather for the summit along with representatives from Brazil, China, India, Mexico and South Africa.