P.M. BRIEFING : Time Too Short, GATT Chief Says
Time is too short for a “fully settled” package covering global trading rules to be agreed upon by this December’s deadline in the troubled Uruguay Round trade liberalization talks, the head of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade said today.
Arthur Dunkel, GATT’s director general, blamed both a lack of new instructions from governments to their trade negotiators and “hide-and-seek” tactics for the meager progress made in outstanding Uruguay Round issues.
Dunkel, summing up a four-day meeting called to assess the status of the Uruguay Round, said it “may not be realistic” to expect all these issues to be resolved in the next 4 1/2 months.
Begun in 1986, the Uruguay Round is scheduled to end Dec. 4 in Brussels, when trade ministers from the 105 participating countries will convene.
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