President Barack Obama's comments on increasing trade and doubling exports to boost the US economy go in the right direction, the head of the World Trade Organisation said on Thursday.   

Pascal Lamy, director-general of the WTO, told reporters it was too early to tell whether leaders of the main economies would make good on their commitment in the G20 to conclude world trade liberalisation talks this year.

Asked about Obama's comments in his State of the Union address to Congress, Lamy said: "I have detected more attention to the macroeconomic side of what he wants to do, and including the trade side, not least because increasing exports is also a way to stimulate the US economy. On this what I read in the State of the Union address goes in the right direction." -Reuters