| The European Union and two blocs
of developing countries have reached a deal on bananas, ending
the world's oldest trade dispute and removing a barrier to a new
agreement to open up global commerce, diplomats said on Tuesday.
But some minor details still remain to be ironed out, and
the deal will not be ready for signing until later this week or
next week, they said.
"Fine tuning," said one European diplomat, expressing
confidence the deal could be completed in the next day or so,
during or after the current World Trade Organisation conference.
"Very close," said a Latin American diplomat, also
forecasting a deal this week.
"We have the substance of a deal," said a diplomat from one
of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries -- the
group of mainly former European colonies who will be the main
losers from a change in the banana regime.
http://www.reuters.com/article/companyNews/idUSGEE5B02KT20091201
|
.jpg){kind=small}
