Ahead of next week's crucial ministerial trade negotiations, officials and diplomats are addressing various issues such as banana imports and protecting product names. Trade experts emphasize that the significance of the upcoming Doha round talks extends beyond tariff and subsidy cuts, highlighting the international community's ability to tackle major challenges like the food crisis. World Trade Organisation Chief Economist Patrick Low warned that failure to reach an agreement in trade negotiations could raise questions about governments' ability to address issues like climate change in the coming years. WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy has convened the Geneva meeting, scheduled to begin formally on Monday and last a week, in a push for progress in the protracted Doha round aimed at promoting global trade and assisting developing countries in overcoming poverty. Negotiators are expressing a new sense of urgency and even some optimism. Ministers from approximately 30 countries are aiming to finalize the key aspects of a deal in agriculture and industrial goods next week, in order to avoid the talks being overshadowed by the U.S. elections and the upcoming change in the White House. Indian Commerce Minister Kamal Nath, who arrived late on Thursday for the discussions leading up to the meeting, emphasized the importance of addressing the challenges related to finance, food, and fuel in any agreement. World leaders, including U.S. President George W. Bush and Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, have all called for a deal to be reached. An agreement will involve wealthy countries such as the United States, Japan, and members of the EU reducing farm tariffs and subsidies to allow for more open markets for food. In exchange, countries like India and Brazil will lower tariffs on industrial goods and services to increase access to markets. After ministers reach an agreement on the framework, negotiators will work on the details for thousands of tariff lines and address other issues like fisheries subsidies and rules for imports with unfair pricing. The main challenge now is bridging the gap between developed and developing countries. France, the largest food producer in the EU and the current president, stated that the EU has made all the concessions it can in agriculture. "We share a common goal of achieving a rebalancing of the concessions already made by the EU," stated French Trade Secretary Anne-Marie Idrac during a news conference in Brussels. EU trade chief Peter Mandelson expressed his belief that EU governments had bolstered his position in pushing for more concessions from other parties in the WTO negotiations. In the consensus-based WTO system, each of the 152 members (soon to be 153 with the addition of Cape Verde) has the power to veto decisions. Developing countries, citing the Doha round's focus on development, argue that they should be required to open their markets to a lesser extent than wealthier nations. However, they are being pressured to expose subsistence farmers and emerging industries to competition while affluent countries maintain protections for their own agricultural sectors. Wealthy nations believe they need to show significant improvements in market access in countries like India and China in order to gain support for a deal that requires significant sacrifices in farm protection domestically. They suggest that South-South trade, or trade between developing countries, would result in the largest benefits. While the common belief is that free trade leads to increased prosperity, some non-governmental organizations argue that the current Doha proposals could actually lead to more poverty for farmers and workers in poor countries, as well as perpetuate dependence on wealthy nations. "It contradicts the proposals made by communities and social movements and hinders developing countries from implementing measures to address the crisis," stated Anuradha Mittal, executive director of the U.S.-based think tank Oakland Institute, during a briefing. However, Lamy, a strict Frenchman and former EU trade chief, strongly argues for the potential benefits of a Doha agreement in reducing distortions in the global trading system to help poor countries. He believes that in the long term, this could increase food supplies and in the short term, boost confidence. "We can send a rare signal that there is some positive news in the system. I don't see any other area where this is possible," he said.