Friday, December 16 2005 19:15 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Hong Kong: Optimistic of arriving at a deal at the sixth Ministerial conference here, WTO Director General Pascal Lamy today (Dec 16, 2005) said talks had only reached 'midway' and it was time for everyone to map out the forward movement to make global trade talks a success.

"Midpoint, some small and volatile progress, and still too much to do," Lamy said in an e-mail to mediapersons.

"We have to stay on and prepare for the difficult task of getting everyone to agree on mapping out areas of progress, however small, back into the fish-bowl for tough negotiations," he said in the mail written in the form of a diary on events of the last four days.

Lamy asserted there was a broad consensus among all the WTO members to avoid a failure at the meeting here and he was confident of a deal as it was coming from the members.

"All members, developed and developing, small island countries, from powers like the US, EU, China, India and Brazil, and also from the group of the poorest countries, who are perhaps the most eloquent of all, have a resolve on why we must not fail," he said.

"I feel calm nonetheless because I am confident that what we are shaping has come from the bottom up, from the Members, developed and developing," he said.

Lamy said there were enough signals (that) things were moving ahead and quoted a Chinese proverb to illustrate his point.

"Different interests, a myriad of signals and signs to decipher, to make sense of, before stealing a little sleep. I am reminded of a Chinese proverb: No wind, no waves. Something is happening," he said.