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INTERVIEW:
WTO's Lamy to decide soon on new
Doha talks
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SIEM
REAP, Cambodia(November 21,2008)
- World Trade Organisation chief Pascal Lamy said
on Thursday he would decide soon whether to call a ministeral meeting
on the Doha trade round, but setting a deadline for talks was premature.
He said ministers from some of the world's poorest countries, meeting
in Cambodia this week to discuss trade and aid issues, wanted a quick
deal because they feared protectionist groups would use the global
economic slump to push their agenda.
Leaders of the G20 group of rich and emerging economies pledged on
Saturday to try to get the outlines of a new accord in the WTO's Doha
round agreed by the end of the year to help deal with the financial
crisis.
In an interview with Reuters, Lamy acknowledged the political impetus
but said he needed to be sure there would be broad agreement on technical
matters before calling ministers to WTO headquarters in Geneva. "I
haven't yet taken a decision but I know I have to take it rather rapidly,"
Lamy said, adding he would be back in Geneva on Friday to work on
the issue.
Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim said this week that a meeting
must be called by Dec. 8 if a deal was to be had by the end of the
year, but Lamy played down such deadlines.
"They all have their own notion of timing because they all have
their own constraints. We know we don't have much time left,"
he said. "The technical options should be on the table 10 days
before the ministers negotiate them."
He said the economic crisis made a deal all the more vital, especially
for poor countries wanting market access for exports.
"Given the economic crisis, the percolation of the financial
crisis into the economy, they believe what's on the table will be
in danger if it only happens six months, a year, a year-and-a-half
from now," Lamy said.
He gave the example of tariff ceilings set in existing trade agreements,
which are typically higher than the actual tariffs imposed by countries.
"Their fear is that with the economic crisis biting, protectionist
lobbies will look for more protection and the applied tariffs will
be raised."
STICKING-POINTS
The Doha round was launched in the Qatari capital seven years ago
to free up world trade by cutting farm subsidies, and reducing tariffs
on agricultural and industrial goods, with a clear mandate to help
developing countries.
A meeting of ministers in July came close to a breakthrough but faltered
because of differences between the United States and India over measures
to protect subsistence farmers in poor countries from a surge in imports.
Cotton is another sticking-point. West African countries proposed
in 2006 that U.S. cotton subsidies should be cut by 82.2 percent against
60 percent for other farm subsidies in a new trade deal. The United
States has yet to reply.
Lamy said the Americans agreed a cotton deal of this sort was needed
and that it could be implemented more rapidly than subsidy cuts on
other crops. But, mindful of their cotton lobby, they wanted it to
be presented as part of the overall package, he said.
"They want to put it with the other subsidy reductions and with
the market access package which they believe is good for two-thirds
of the U.S. farm system," he said.
Lamy has decided to stand for a second term as head of the WTO. Cambodian
Prime Minister Hun Sen said on Wednesday the poor countries gathered
in Siem Reap this week ought to vote for him.
Asked if he felt he had the backing of other member states, Lamy said:
"The time for other candidates to appear, if that is to be the
case, starts December 1 and ends December 31. So, answer to the question
thirty-first of December." |
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