Brussels, 15/02/2010 (Agence Europe) - On the sidelines of his visit to Geneva to meet with WTO Director General Pascal Lamy, on Friday 12 February, Karel De Gucht was conciliatory towards the United States, which all WTO member states point at as a major obstacle to concluding the Doha Round. De Gucht, however, refused to blame Washington for the lack of progress in the multilateral talks or to isolate this essential partner further. “We have no ambition whatsoever to corner the United States. I am going to the US with an open mind to discuss with them and see together how we can contribute to an early conclusion of the Doha Round and also to resolving our pending bilateral discussions”, the new European trade commissioner told the press, indicating that the would be in Washington from 12 to 14 March. De Gucht explained he wished to establish contacts on a formal basis as soon as possible and, as soon as he took up his post on 9 February, he spoke with his US counterpart, Trade Representative Ron Kirk, on the phone. The commissioner, moreover, considers there is a contradiction between the calls made by G20 leaders to conclude the Doha Round in 2010 and the insufficient margins of flexibility granted to their trade ministers to achieve this. He considers, moreover, that the 2010 deadline is not important. “Whether we can do it at the end of this year or beginning of next year, in any case in both circumstances we have to continue working”, he stressed. In the meantime, the EU is for its part “ready to close a deal, any time soon”, De Gucht assured, pointing out that the EU27 had already done enough in the talks to open access to its agricultural markets. “Europe has been doing what it had to do. It's not because we had the courage to put it on the table that now we can be asked for supplementary concessions with regard to market access”, he stressed. (E.H./transl.jl)