WTO mediators propose compromises to save Doha round

Mediators of the World Trade Organisation's (WTO) troubled farming and industrial goods talks on Tuesday proposed compromise texts meant to save the Doha free trade accord.
Don Stephenson, Canada's ambassador to the WTO and mediator of the industrial goods talks, said countries needed to "search for balance" between their competing interests in the nearly six-year-old negotiations to secure an agreement.
"Some of those narrow ranges or target numbers or technical draft text will be very painful, for sure. But that pain will be required to get agreement," Crawford Falconer, New Zealand's ambassador to the WTO and chairman of the farming negotiations, said in his paper on possible tariff and subsidy cuts.
Disputes over how to handle sensitive industries have dogged the Doha round since its launch in Qatar in 2001. The global accord was meant to repeal barriers to trade in agriculture, manufacturing and services, and help poor countries export more.
The negotiations ran aground last year when some countries resisted calls to expose sensitive industries such as rice, dairy, clothing and car parts to more foreign competition. Hopes for a Doha deal took another hit when the major trading powers of the European Union, the United States, India and Brazil failed in June to bridge differences at a meeting in Germany.
Trade diplomats say countries' reactions to the chairs' papers will determine whether the Doha negotiations have a hope of wrapping up in 2007. WTO chief Pascal Lamy has pushed for this deadline to avoid a spill-over into US and Indian election campaigns that would further damage the round's chances of success.
If any major economies reject the texts as the basis from which to negotiate a deal, the Doha talks are likely to be put on ice, possibly for years. But if the proposals are well-received, diplomats say trade ministers could be called to Geneva as early as September for another try at concluding the deal - which the World Bank says could add $96 billion annually to the global economy.