WTO CHIEF: CONCLUDING DOHA ROUND IN 2010 TECHNICALLY POSSIBLE
09 febrero 2010
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Published by Associated Press-Yahoo! News
Canberra (Dow Jones) Concluding the protracted Doha Round of world trade talks this year is technically possible but will require some political will to overcome a few final obstacles, the head of the World Trade Organization, Pascal Lamy, said Tuesday.
"Whether there is a sort of political spasm of energy that then leads to cracking these few nuts that then opens the way for the whole conclusion, that's not for me to say, but it certainly is technically doable," he told reporters.
Lamy was speaking during a visit to Australia for talks with ministers, including Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, and trade groups to strategize about how the Doha Round might proceed.
At September's G-20 Conference in Pittsburgh, leaders called on trade ministers to conclude the Doha Round by December 2010.
But the first meeting in four years of ministers from the WTO's 153 member nations in December concluded with no progress in the eight-year-old Doha Round, which has repeatedly failed to achieve its stated mission of opening developed-nation markets to imports of food from the developing world.
Now, Lamy wants to gather energy for the 20% of the job that remains to be done in the lead-up to a meeting of leaders of G20 nations scheduled for June, building on what he said was the determination evident last year.
This has to do with what remains on tariff reduction on industrial goods and in some cases on agricultural goods for some developing countries, he said.
In particular, the U.S. wants more access for agriculture, manufacturing and services, particularly in emerging markets, while developing countries want the U.S. to reduce trade-distorting farm subsidies.
Lamy said he believes India now wants the round concluded, as does the U.S., which he takes at their word.
"That's what they said last year," he said, adding that he heard a positive tone on trade in U.S. President Barack Obama's state of the union address in January.
Despite the slow progress in talks in 2009, Lamy insisted the talks had moved forward.
"There has been progress--not enough; it still is too slow," he said. "What's for sure and what is important in international trade negotiations is that there's been no stepping back."
Canberra (Dow Jones) Concluding the protracted Doha Round of world trade talks this year is technically possible but will require some political will to overcome a few final obstacles, the head of the World Trade Organization, Pascal Lamy, said Tuesday.
"Whether there is a sort of political spasm of energy that then leads to cracking these few nuts that then opens the way for the whole conclusion, that's not for me to say, but it certainly is technically doable," he told reporters.
Lamy was speaking during a visit to Australia for talks with ministers, including Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, and trade groups to strategize about how the Doha Round might proceed.
At September's G-20 Conference in Pittsburgh, leaders called on trade ministers to conclude the Doha Round by December 2010.
But the first meeting in four years of ministers from the WTO's 153 member nations in December concluded with no progress in the eight-year-old Doha Round, which has repeatedly failed to achieve its stated mission of opening developed-nation markets to imports of food from the developing world.
Now, Lamy wants to gather energy for the 20% of the job that remains to be done in the lead-up to a meeting of leaders of G20 nations scheduled for June, building on what he said was the determination evident last year.
This has to do with what remains on tariff reduction on industrial goods and in some cases on agricultural goods for some developing countries, he said.
In particular, the U.S. wants more access for agriculture, manufacturing and services, particularly in emerging markets, while developing countries want the U.S. to reduce trade-distorting farm subsidies.
Lamy said he believes India now wants the round concluded, as does the U.S., which he takes at their word.
"That's what they said last year," he said, adding that he heard a positive tone on trade in U.S. President Barack Obama's state of the union address in January.
Despite the slow progress in talks in 2009, Lamy insisted the talks had moved forward.
"There has been progress--not enough; it still is too slow," he said. "What's for sure and what is important in international trade negotiations is that there's been no stepping back."
