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WTO, US, EU officials see a ''window of opportunity'' for a comprehensive global trade pact

BEIJING – 01/24/08 – This year is “crucial” for the outcome of the Doha Round of global trade talks, according to World Trade Organization chief Pascal Lamy.

Speaking with the media in the Chinese capital after meetings last week with Premier Wen Jiabao and the ministers in charge of commerce, agriculture, finance and foreign affairs, Lamy said that “what I see from WTO members is a desire to try to finish the negotiations, which have been cooking for six years, sometime during this year.”

He said his prognosis is "that it is doable as we now have both political and technical conditions to make it possible".

The Doha Round of world trade negotiations were launched by the Geneva-based WTO in 2001 in an effort to craft a global trade agreement that would liberalize global markets, primarily agriculture, manufacturing and services.

But the talks have stalled over such issues as the size of tariff cuts, and what sort of special treatment developing nations should receive.

Lamy said the main stumbling block to achieving an agreement is agriculture, in which developing nations want the rules – for both subsidies and protection – to be rebalanced in their favor.

Another pressing issue, he added, is industrial tariffs, where greater market access is needed in both developing and developed countries. Also on the menu are issues such as services, dumping, trade facilitation and regional trade agreements.

Underscoring Lamy’s cautious optimism are top trade officials from the US and the European Union (EU) who are calling for a successful conclusion to the talks by the end of 2008.

US Trade Representative Susan Schwab said “a lot of progress has been made very quietly over the last six months in Geneva” in multilateral negotiations.

"We want to see that we come together, the sooner the better, to achieve closure on the Doha round in 2008," Schwab said, warning it cannot be done without a “comprehensive deal on agriculture, manufacturing and services,” among other issues.

"The single undertaking will require all these issues to be addressed before the Doha round comes to closure," Schwab said. "We are in a critical few months.”

EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson, who met recently with the USTR in Washington, DC, concurred, saying that both the EU and the US “remain committed to the conclusion of the Doha round of trade talks” by the end of this year.

"We both agree this means moving rapidly towards agreement on the modalities in the early spring," Mandelson told a joint press conference with Schwab, adding the upcoming package or recommendations “should strike a balance between agriculture, industrial goods and services.”

According to a new WTO roadmap, the chairmen for agriculture and industry talks should issue revised draft proposals by the end of this month or in early February at the latest, so that modalities can be agreed within a month.

In a recent speech at the US Chamber of Commerce, the USTR said in the next few months each member of the WTO will "face a fork in the road: whether or not the ranges and flexibility within the texts produced by the negotiating chairs will be the playing field upon which all members negotiate. The time for playing games is over.”

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