DAVOS, Switzerland (AFX) - Progress in stalled world trade talks will be among the issues at the top of the agenda of this year's World Economic Forum, its founder and executive chairman Klaus Schwab said yesterday.
Schwab said discussions to revive the Doha round of World Trade Organisation talks would 'play a role' in this year's annual gathering of financial and political leaders in Davos, alongside climate change, globalisation and the situation in the Middle East.
Doha, launched in the Qatari capital in November 2001, is aimed at reducing tariffs, subsidies and other barriers to global commerce in order to boost development in the world's poorest countries.
Agricultural subsidies and market access are key sticking points in the Doha round of trade talks, which have foundered badly since their launch.
The WTO suspended the process last July after negotiators from six major partners, including the US, EU, Brazil and India, failed to reach agreement after a five-year effort.
Schwab stressed the forum was 'not pushing any specific issues, not even the outcome of these great (trade) negotiations' and was there purely 'to provide a platform' for discussion.
'I hope they (WTO members) will use this platform in a responsible way,' he told an opening press conference at the event in the Swiss ski resort this morning.
More than 800 chief executives or chairmen from 1,000 of the world's biggest companies are among the 2,400 participants at this year's forum, the highest since the event was launched in 1971.
High profile attendees from the business world will include Microsoft boss Bill Gates, Arcelor-Mittal chairman and CEO Lakshmi Mittal and BP chief executive Lord Browne, while political figures will include German chancellor Angela Merkel, US senators John McCain and John Kerry and British premier Tony Blair. philip.waller@thomson.com paw/vlb COPYRIGHT Copyright AFX News Limited 2006. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of AFX News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of AFX News. AFX News and AFX Financial News Logo are registered trademarks of AFX News Limited