Diplomacy wins praise for NZer

Diplomat Tim Groser's skill in removing a key stumbling block to the WTO Round Trade won the praise of Negotiations Minister Jim Sutton yesterday.

He said Groser - who chairs the WTO's agriculture committee - achieved the breakthrough after "brutal negotiations" at a Paris OECD meeting on how to calculate farm goods tariffs.

Sutton said the deal reached was not greatly different from previous so-called settlements on the issue but, this time, it was backed by a representative group of trade ministers.

Progress had been held up on what was largely a technical issue which had become political.

The World Trade Organisation is running at least two years behind its goal of brokering a new global trade deal by the end of this year.

Its members have set a July deadline for an outline deal covering all sectors.

- NZPA, staff reporter