Doha Talks Should Go On, Says Minister

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 8 (Bernama) -- Malaysia wants discussions on the Doha Development Agenda (DDA) to be continued, says International Trade and Indstry Minister Mustapa Mohamed. "We believe the discussions need to be continued after the DDA has come this far, otherwise I think it will be a waste of time, effort and money. We have to push on. "We are quite open to this proposal for DDA to have limited and deliverable objective. We are open for discussion," he told a press conference on Tuesday. Mustapa said there had been a few discussions on the DDA in the last few weeks, including with his Australian counterpart in Perth. He said they will also be meeting at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Ministerial Meeting in Honolulu, Hawaii on Nov 10-13 and also on Dec 14 in Geneva, Switzerland on the DDA. "DDA is very ambitious, it covers many things. That's one reason why it's difficult to move. Malaysia will be actively participating in discussions to see how we can salvage it," Mustapa added. DDA is the current trade-negotiation round of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) which commenced in November 2001. Its objective is to lower trade barriers around the world, which will help facilitate the increase of global trade. -- BERNAMA Malaysia