An Australian trade official on Thursday urged countries not give up on world trade talks and to push for a small package of agreements in December that could pave the way for a broader deal. "We would like to see more creative suggestions on ways to conclude the Doha negotiations, rather than reasons why it can't be done," Cathy Raper, minister-counsellor for trade at Australia's Embassy in Washington, said during a panel discussion on the nearly 10-year-old round.
Negotiators acknowledged earlier this year that a deal to significantly open agricultural, manufacturing and services markets around the world to more trade was still out of reach, despite countless hours of negotiations since the Doha round was launched in the capital of Qatar in late 2001.
World Trade Organisation Director General Pascal Lamy has urged members to focus this year on a smaller package that would first and foremost help Least Developed Countries. However, two major elements of the proposed December deal - significant cuts in cotton subsidies and duty-free, quota-free treatment for almost all LDC goods - are politically difficult for the United States because of opposition from domestic farm and textile groups.
Raper said Australia believes the December deal could also include the elimination of agricultural export subsidies, liberalisation of environmental goods, stronger disciplines on fisheries subsidies that encourage overfishing and a comprehensive standstill against new tariffs and subsidies. Another key element should be a "trade facilitation" agreement to tear down regulatory and other barriers that slow the shipment of goods across borders, Raper said.
She praised a recent letter from Caterpillar Chairman Doug Oberhelman urging WTO members to reconsider a recent European Union proposal for cutting industrial tariffs, as well as a set of recommendations from the Washington-based Peterson Institute for International Economics on how to ensure any December agreement leads to a larger deal.
"A bold move by the United States" to push for disciplines on export subsidies, export credits and food aid as part of the December package "would be an important sign of commitment to the process from the US," she added. Jake Colvin, a vice president at the National Foreign Trade Council, a US business group, said American companies remain interested in a Doha deal but are frustrated with so little progress in the talks over the past four years. The United States is repeatedly called upon to show leadership but when Washington offers a new concession it is immediately "pocketed" by other WTO members without any movement in response, Colvin said.
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