Trading powers who have embarked on an intensified push for a new trade deal sought by political leaders must go faster if they are to have any hope of finishing the Doha round this year, the head of the WTO said on Wednesday. Trade ministers meeting in the Swiss resort of Davos last week agreed to push for an outline agreement by July and to tell their negotiators at the World Trade Organisation to show enough flexibility to clinch a deal in the long-running talks.
But WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy told a meeting of the trade body's 153 members to review progress on the nine-year-old talks that movement on substance in real negotiations was needed as well as a change in mood. "Atmospheric improvement is good and important, but we will not advance on air alone," he said. Lamy said it was clear the broad negotiating groups working on tearing down trade barriers in areas such as agriculture, industrial goods and services were now working hard.
But much more must be done in the bilateral talks and discussions among small groups of key players that are critical for a deal, and this would require give and take, he said. The Doha talks were launched in late 2001 to boost the world economy and help poor countries prosper through trade.
Since then they have stalled repeatedly, the last time in July 2008, and trade diplomats at Wednesday's meeting said 2011 was probably the last chance to reach a deal. Countries including Mexico and Indonesia said failure would damage the multilateral rules-based trading system that is umpired by the WTO and is credited with having prevented 1930s-style tit-for-tat protectionism in the financial crisis.