Trade ministers seek breakthrough at WTO talks
Geneva: Members of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), are gathering in Geneva very soon to thrash out a pact to reform world farm and manufacturing trade, which formed core areas of the WTO's Doha round.

WTO chief Pascal Lamy said if negotiators are unable to come to a deal to slash farm subsidies and sharply reduce tariffs in agricultural and industrial goods, they would not able to wrap up the round by the end of the year as they must do.

"If we postpone this stage, the whole thing will become technically impossible,' Lamy told journalists on Wednesday. He said the key lies in the United States agreeing to further cuts in the huge subsidies it pays out to farmers each year, while the European Union must open up its market by accepting deeper reductions in farm import duties.

This must be accompanied with developing countries making concessions in industrial tariffs.

However according to Lamy Washington is under huge pressure from its farm lobby not to give further ground. The EU and Brazil have said they can move, but both add they have limited room for manoeuvre. He said it was likely that U.S. agriculture will walk away from a bad deal.

The WTO must complete the round -- which also includes services and a host of other issues -- by the end of the year because special U.S. presidential powers to negotiate on trade will expire next year and Congress is unlikely to renew them.
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EMI, Warner takeover moves continue
EMI and Warner have revealed that the two companies have been busy swapping offers and counteroffers for the past two weeks, without coming to any resolution.

In a statement, EMI said it continued to believe that an acquisition of Warner Music by EMI at $31 per share in cash would be very attractive to both sets of shareholders.

EMI made an unsolicited bid for Warner on May 1 at $28.50 a share, or $20 in cash and $8.50 in stock. Warner subsequently rejected the offer the next day.''

On June 14, Warner submitted a counteroffer to buy EMI for 315 pence (about 57 cents) per share in cash. EMI turned it down, then sweetened its offer to buy Warner on June 23, raising its bid to $31 a share in cash, in a purchase to be funded by debt finance, a rights issue and the sale of Warner's music publishing assets.

On June 27, Warner rejected the revised offer and then submitted a new bid for EMI of 320 pence per share in cash. Today, EMI said its board has rejected the latest bid from Warner, saying it was "wholly unacceptable."

EMI's shares closed today at 307.5 pence, up 23.75 pence, or 8.4 per cent Warner's shares finished at $28.11, up 88 cents, or 3.2 per cent.
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