Leaders of the Group of Eight nations will not set any specific target date for launching a new round of global trade talks at their summit in Okinawa this weekend, a senior G8 official said Thursday.
A joint communique to be released Sunday, the final day of the three-day summit, will merely state that the new round under the World Trade Organization should be started as quickly as possible, the official said.
"The communique will not set a target, such as by the end of this year," the official said. "From a realistic point of view, nobody thinks a new round will be launched by the end of this year."
The expected omission of a target date underscores deep differences among the Group of Seven industrialized countries — the G8 minus Russia — over a specific agenda for the round.