Protectionism to linger for two more years: WTO chief

Global trade will face lingering protectionism for up to two years as the job market reels from the global financial crisis, World Trade Organization director-general Pascal Lamy said on Thursday.

"We are not out of the woods in coping with these protectionist tensions," Lamy told reporters in the Chilean capital Santiago during a visit. "We on the trade side know by experience that we still have one or two years of stress to live and to cope with."

Lamy had said on Monday the recovery in the global job market will lag that of the world economy by around 18 months.

Noting the ''remarkable'' speed of the recent turnaround of the world economy as compared with that of the 1930s, he said that ''the trade rules have stood to the protectionist pressures but we now need to ensure that this culture of cooperation brings the Doha Round to its completion''.