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Geneva: Governments negotiating a global trade treaty on Friday backed what trade experts said was a "make-or-break" test of the seven-year drive to cut tariffs and subsidies that pinch exporters and constrain growth.
World Trade Organisation (WTO) Director-General Pascal Lamy has called for ministers to meet from July 21 to seek agreement in farming and manufacturing - the two toughest areas - to try to reach a full deal on the so-called Doha round in 2008.
The 152 members of the WTO's trade negotiating committee backed Lamy's move.
"It's clearly risky," said David Woods, a trade analyst, who warned that diplomats in Geneva needed to overcome huge obstacles in their often-complex negotiations before ministers could be expected to reach any agreement.
"Either they make a trem-endous amount of progress in the next few weeks or they do not. If that prog-ress is not forthcoming there is no way this deal can be done in four or five days," Woods said.
Former WTO services director David Hartridge said Lamy's decision was "a brave but necessary thing to do".
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