WTO: Risk of “Total Failure” on the Doha Round

Tholen - In an interview with the UK’s Sunday Telegraph, Pascal Lamy, General Director of the WTO admitted that if the new U.S. Congress does not take action to save the round of negotiations it would cause a collapse in the whole trade multilateral system. Recent meetings with CBI Head Richard Lambert and Japanese Agriculture, Forestry and Fishery Minister Toshikatsu Matsuoka confirm the intense activity of lobbying which has as a purpose to create a more favourable environment to resume negotiations.

Lamy once again called US and EU governments to make concessions particularly to sensitive topics for developing countries, such as the agricultural sector. He stressed that this round was launched as the “development round” and a failure means “a political backlash from the developing world”. He accepted that the round is unlikely to be completed by June 2007 and that the new congressional composition in the U.S. with Democrats majority is historically less favorable for trade deals, however he argues: "Democrats need to remember that taking the US into multilateral agreements is a good thing."

Publication date: December 06 2006
Author: Jahir Lombana
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