Describing collapse of the WTO talks in Geneva as a setback to multilateral trading system, a top UN official has warned that global anti-poverty goals are threatened by the failure of the negotiations and sought their revival.
Supachai Panitchpakdi, Secretary General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, urged WTO members to create conducive conditions to promote development, eliminate poverty and accelerate the achievement of UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
MDGs are set of goals set by the world leaders at the United Nations millennium summit in 2000 to drastically reduce or eliminate several social and economic ills.
Panitchpakdi said he was "deeply disappointed" by the failure, asserting that the talks were too important to be derailed.
It adds to a growing list of global development challenges that must be confronted by countries to fight poverty worldwide, he emphasized.
"Every effort must be deployed by WTO members to re-commit themselves to the multilateral trading system, to return to the negotiating table at the earliest possible juncture, and deliver the development promise of the Round," he said.
"The Round provides a unique vehicle for re-balancing the multilateral trading system, in particular for addressing the long-standing systemic distortions, especially in regard to agricultural subsidies by developed countries," he said, stressing that an important goal was to secure increased, predictable and effective market access for developing countries for exports in agriculture, manufacturing and other services.