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 But late on Thursday one trade official involved with the talks said
a deal would be very unlikely because of a stand-off between South
Korea and China, which was refusing all attempts to broker a
compromise.
Countries representing 97 percent of global IT commerce are trying
to agree on expanding the WTO's Information Technology Agreement,
which would be the first global agreement on tariff cuts in more
than a decade.
The accord would reduce tariffs on such products as medical
equipment, GPS devices, video games consoles and next-generation
semiconductors, cutting more than 200 tariff lines to zero.
"We have in front of us the most far reaching market access package
made in the WTO since 1996, worth more than 1 trillion euros of
world trade," European Union Ambassador Angelos Pangratis, chair of
the talks, said on Thursday.
"However, while the finalization of the negotiations appears
certainly within reach, there is still some distance, small compared
with the long way we have already gone, which needs to be bridged,"
he told envoys in the WTO's General Council.
Some delegations needed to consult their ministries, but the deal
needed to be done on Friday or not at all, Pangratis said. "Later it
will not be easier, rather the contrary. Now is the moment."
Countries negotiating the package have set themselves a goal of
reaching an accord by a meeting of the WTO's General Council this
week. Although the deadline is an artificial one, the vast majority
of states are happy with the deal on the table, and further delay
raises the risk that it might unravel.
The talks got a boost last month after a U.S.-Chinese compromise
removed a long-standing block to progress - a Chinese demand for a
large number of exemptions.
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China was now sticking rigidly to the letter of that bilateral deal
with the United States and refusing to adapt it in ways that would
assuage the concerns of other WTO members, said the trade official
involved in the talks, who requested anonymity.
China had refused compromise options put forward by the South Korean
delegation and WTO Director General Roberto Azevedo and had not made
any suggestions of its own, the same official said.
A senior official at South Korea's trade ministry said on Friday
that there were a few products at issue with China, including LCD
screens.
"(South Korea) is contacting the Chinese officials through various
channels and are at present waiting for their response to our latest
proposal," the official said without elaborating and declining to be
identified.
"I don't know what (the countries) will do after today but they will
probably have to set another schedule if a deal fails to be reached
this time," he said.
Chinese officials in Geneva were not immediately available to
comment.
(Reporting by Tom Miles; Additional reporting by Choonsik Yoo in
Seoul; editing by Robert Evans and Crispian Balmer)
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