(AFP) – Jun 27, 2008

PARIS (AFP) — France said Friday it will hold a special meeting of European ministers to discuss the EU position on global commerce as the World Trade Organization seeks to conclude a long-deadlocked deal.

"France will organise between 14 and 20 July an extraordinary meeting of European ministers of foreign affairs... to quickly deal with European positions regarding the WTO," said Europe Minister Jean-Pierre Jouyet.

"Europe cannot sit back and do nothing about the WTO, which was a major cause of trouble in Ireland, with agriculture, as it is France," he told French radio.

Jouyet, whose country takes over the rotating EU presidency on July 1, was referring to Irish voters' rejection this month of the European Union's Lisbon Treaty, which plunged the 27-nation bloc into crisis.

On Wednesday, WTO head Pascal Lamy invited ministers from 30 leading countries to a meeting in Geneva on July 21 to try to broker a final deal in the so-called Doha round of trade talks.

The Doha round, aimed at a creating a new global agreement to remove barriers to trade and spur cross-border exchanges, has been deadlocked because of disagreements between the US and Europe, and developed and developing countries.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy last week however ruled out a free-trade deal at the WTO after Ireland's rejection of the EU treaty.

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