The Wire

The 2006 G8 Summit today came to a close in St Petersburg and world leaders found some time to attempt to address the current crisis facing the World Trade Organisation. Since the 2003 trade meetings in Cancun the WTO has been unable to acheive any of its goals due to a statlemate between the rich northern nations making up the G8 and the developing southern nations who have formed a group of their own, intimidatingly called the G20. Trade ministers at the G8 summit this week stated that their aim was to reach an agreement with the G20 nations within a month, but its unclear how possible this will be.