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Sleepless in Seattle, Cancun and now in Hong kong
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Sleepless in Seattle, Cancun and now in Hong kong
Last week?s world trade talks in Hong Kong have been one long yawn ? literally. As six days of round-the-clock talks on furthering a deal to lower barriers to global commerce entered their last few hours, everyone was feeling the strain.?My poor staff are looking at me more and more with eyes that ask: when will we get some sleep?? WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy said on his weblog. ?Even my staff is dozing off at meetings or trying to get a few minutes of sleep in the corridors.? Lamy said he and his team consumed 320 cups of coffee between Saturday night and Sunday morning as they strove to avert a repeat of failed WTO talks in Seattle in 1999 and Cancun in 2003. ?Not bad for the exports of developing countries,? he wrote.
European Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson fuelled himself on green tea as usual to keep focussed in negotiating marathons. ?He is a caffeine-free zone,? one European official said on Sunday as Mandelson had a first brief snooze after two sleepless days and nights. On the streets, Hong Kong police officers clad in full riot gear were slumped up against one another in the midday sunshine after a day battling South Korean anti-free trade protesters and then a night penning them in on a main city avenue.
US Trade Representative Rob Portman shrugged off his sleep deprivation. When reporters asked him for the latest news, he quipped: ?The latest is that I?ve learnt that sleep is overrated. We?re getting less and less every night and none last night. But it was worth it.?
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