GenevaLunch

Le Temps, Fre - The Doha Round of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Doha Round of talks, put on ice mid-2006, will start up agin, probably in April or May. The decision was made to breathe life back into the negotiations by 23 ministers attending the World Economic Forum's annual meeting in Davos.

The timing of the renewed talks depends heavily on the US political calendar. Susan Schwab, secretary of commerce, told the group that she must have the clear outlines of compromises before she can ask Congress to renew her authorization to negotiate. (continue reading)→

swissinfo - Swiss Economics Minister Doris Leuthard met in Davos with United States Trade Representative Susan Schwab. She then spoke with swissinfo's Pierre-François Besson about progress in the two countries' trade forum. The forum was set up in 2006 following a decision by both countries not to sign a bilateral agreement.

Leuthard noted that the forum is important for Switzerland in part because the US is one of the largest foreign investors in the country. The framework for the forum is still being worked out, she noted, but in December the two parties agreed to cover three themes: electronic commerce, intellectual property and some agricultural sectors. "Hopefully we will see some concrete results this year," she said. (continue reading)→

Le Temps, Fre - The world's media are looking at Davos through different lenses and coming to different conclusions, says Le Temps. It notes that Neue Zurich Zeitung says the role of the World Economic Forum is to unblock things, giving the examples of Turkey and Greece in 1988, the two Koreas and in 1992 South Africa's Mandela and de Klerk. The Lausanne paper summarizes an interview with WEF organizer Klaus Schwab in Business Week where he says the main purpose of the meeting is to study the planet's challenges. (continue reading)→

swissinfo - The World Economic Forum in Davos was off to a slow start, ironically due to snow. The two main themes this year are security and global warming. There had been fears that Davos would have no snow, given the paucity of it so far this winter in Switzerland.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel left Berlin early because of forecasts of bad weather, to ensure that she would be able to give the opening address. (continue reading)→

GenevaLunch - The quiet big news about the World Economic Forum (WEF) which has its welcome cocktail Tuesday in Davos is that it has opened the doors to most of the world. Before you buy a train ticket and head for one of the rare snowy corners of Switzerland: the doors are virtual ones. The WEF is working with four big players in the political blogging world to kick off and animate its "bloggregator" or Davos conversation page: Huffington Post, the Guardian, the BBC and BuzzMachine. For the first time every person attending the WEF, heads of state and heads of companies included, have been asked to contribute at least one blog post. (continue reading)→