The Director-General of the World Trade Organization Pascal Lamy said in a speech to the Annual Session of the Parliamentary Conference that nations must do everything in their power to ensure the success of the Doha Round or risk a catastrophic weakening of the credibility of the WTO, and the Multilateral Trading System – key catalysts towards trade cooperation, greater trade powers for developing nations, and global economic growth.

Addressing attendees, Lamy said:

“I do not intend to be long in my remarks to you today. What I would like to do is to ensure that you are aware of the crucial moment that the WTO is now in. The Doha Development Agenda, which was launched in 2001, is now entering a critical phase — what some even call 'its last window of opportunity'."

“Negotiators have made headway on many of the thorniest issues in this negotiation over the years. While these issues sometimes cut along North-South lines, they very often also cut across North-North lines, or even South-South ones. Some of the trickiest remaining issues, that you will have heard about… will prevail in the fisheries subsidies area, how the Special Safeguard Mechanism will operate in the agricultural area, and how to raise ambition across-the-board in industrial goods, agricultural goods, and services trade. While some of the remaining issues are technical in nature, others are, of course, more political.”

“In order to conclude the Round in 2011, as has been called for by the G20 and APEC leaders last year… the Membership agreed at the beginning of the year on a sequence of steps. The next step in that sequence [is] to have Chairs of different negotiating groups capture the level of progress that has been achieved thus far by tabling draft compromise texts. This is expected to happen around Easter.”

“The capturing of progress by Chairs has two fundamental objectives: firstly, it gives an across-the-board transparent picture of the remaining gaps which will need to be addressed in the end game; secondly, it provides a tool to move into a more horizontal phase in the negotiations post Easter. Capturing this progress is therefore a necessary step towards our collective aim of concluding the Round this year.”

“But it is important to bear in mind that texts are a means to an end, and not an end in themselves. They are being prepared to reflect the convergence amongst our Members, and to help us gradually bring the Doha Round to closure. It is therefore fair to say that renouncing on capturing the progress made by Easter would be equivalent to questioning the objective to conclude the Round at the end of 2011. Throwing in the towel now is not what Ministers and Leaders have given as their instructions!”

"There are many reasons of course why we should conclude the Doha Round; not least because of the much needed boost that the Round would give to the global economy, and the boost, or vote of confidence, that it would also give to the Multilateral Trading System: A confirmation of the value of the insurance policy against protectionism which has protected all our Members during the economic crisis.”

“In the current turbulent times, the WTO must act as a catalyst of trust and global unity through the conclusion of the Doha Round. It must make a contribution to a more stable world. A WTO 'in crisis' is not what is expected of responsible members of the international community. Let us not weaken one of the best examples of functioning international co-operation."

“Ladies and gentlemen, the Doha Round is as relevant to the world today as it was in the moment that it was launched. But I am conscious that we cannot conclude these negotiations without your explicit support. Hence the importance of our dialogue today. The floor is yours.”

Source: tax-news.com