Trade chief Takashi Fukaya said he and Pascal Lamy, the European Union's trade commissioner, agreed Monday to pursue efforts to jointly hold working-level meetings with the United States and Canada in Geneva on Friday to encourage the World Trade Organization to swiftly launch a new round of free-trade negotiations.
The agreement was reached during a 50-minute telephone conversation between the two, the second time they have spoken over the phone this month, to seek ways to encourage the U.S. and developing countries to back off their demands for a new round.
Having failed to narrow their differences so far, Lamy and Fukaya agreed on the need for officials from the U.S., Canada, EU and Japan to settle key pending issues at Friday's proposed meeting.