UN Secretary-GeneralKofi Annan has expressed his disappointment at the collapse of the world trade talks, saying he had expected the Cancunmeeting to achieve much more than it did.
Annan, who has been lobbying for years to improve tradeprospects for the developing world, especially in agriculture,said he hoped nations would reflect and come up with anagreement next year.
"On Cancun, I must admit, I knew it was going to be adifficult session. I had expected it to achieve much more thanthey achieved," Annan told reporters.
The World Trade Organisation talks broke down yesterdaywhen delegates from Africa, the Caribbean and Asia walked out,saying they were not offered enough inducements on agricultureand other issues. The collapse means the WTO probably will notmeet its own January 2005 deadline for dismantling global tradebarriers.
Annan said he had hoped for an agreement that would be"beneficial to developing countries as they try to improvetheir own situation."
"Not much was achieved but I hope that is not the end ofthe road, and that the parties will go back and reflect andthen come back in a determined fashion to try and fashion anagreement within the next year or so," Annan said.