WTO chief says deals within reach ahead of Geneva meeting

The head of the World Trade Organization told Reuters on Wednesday that agreements on cutting fish subsidies and vaccine sharing were "within shouting distance" ahead of a major trade meeting next week, saying she hoped outstanding disagreements can be resolved.

"If we get one or two deliverables that will be good," Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala told Reuters by telephone. "I think we are within shouting distance of that."

Some 120 trade ministers from around the world are due at the body's Geneva headquarters next week in what observers say will be a critical test of the 27-year-old body's ability to strike global trade deals.