'At a time when there are renewed calls for a better regulation in the financial area, the WTO system provides an example of how the lessons of history and experience have led to the construction of a system of international governance,' Mr Lamy said. -- PHOTO: AFP
GENEVA - THE World Trade Organisation held talks with bankers and experts on Wednesday on how the economic crisis is hitting global commerce but key players stayed away ahead of the G20 summit in Washington.
WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy had invited the heads of the World Bank, Mr Robert Zoellick, and the International Monetary Fund, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, but neither showed up as the meeting has been eclipsed by the forthcoming meeting in the US capital.
Even at the time the meeting was announced in October, trade sources indicated that Mr Zoellick and Mr Strauss-Kahn might not attend in person but could send specialists well-versed in trade finance matters.
Representatives from key banks active in the field of trade finance such as HSBC, JP Morgan, Citigroup, Royal Bank of Scotland and Commerzbank did attend the meeting, WTO sources said.
Mr Lamy said last month that the WTO could act as a model of how to regulate anew the global financial system in the wake of the crisis that has seen Wall Street titans humbled and unprecedented levels of state intervention in the banking sector.
'At a time when there are renewed calls for a better regulation in the financial area, the WTO system provides an example of how the lessons of history and experience have led to the construction of a system of international governance,' Mr Lamy said. -- AFP
