Doha deal falters as WTO fails to set meeting date

The World Trade Organization appeared close to abandoning a ministerial conference this year to hammer out a new global commerce pact, officials said Monday.

WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy had hoped to invite top trade negotiators to Geneva from Saturday to work out the many issues hindering a deal designed to lift millions of people out of poverty and add billions of dollars to the global economy through lower trade barriers.

But senior officials from Argentina, Brazil and India said those plans were dropped during a meeting Monday at the WTO's Geneva headquarters. They could not say if trade ministers would meet at all before Dec. 31.

The …