The worst part is that the negotiations (more correctly, rhetoric on respective positions) have widened the schism between the rich and poor countries.
Though the World Trade Organisation (WTO) has indicated that its member countries will meet again at its Geneva headquarters once the dust settles, in a few months, there seems little chance that the process can be put back on track so soon.
It will be naive to expect any change by then in the stand of the US, where presidential elections are due in November 2004, or of a European Union that will get preoccupied with issues concerning the admission of 10 new members next year
