Brussels, 27/09/2010 (Agence Europe) - The passing months with no tangible progress in the interminable Doha talks fail to shake the faith of WTO Director General Pascal Lamy, who still believes that it will be “technically doable” to conclude the Doha Round by November 2011, 10 years after it was launched. “Celebrating 10 years of negotiations might not be a big occasion for champagne,” he said, opening discussions at the second Global Services Summit in Washington on 22 September, but, he went on, conclusion is, at this point, still technically doable. “Whether and when the chemistry will unfold, I'm not sure. … I often say that we've done 80% of the job, and all that remains now is 20% left. The problem being that I've been saying that for roughly two years,” he admitted, however.
He feels that progress in liberalisation of the trade in services could help free up the Doha negotiations as a whole, leading to a definitive agreement. “In fact, a lot has happened since the services negotiations were launched in 2000. Many countries have unilaterally opened services sectors to competition, and have ensured that proper regulations are in place. With now quite some years of experience, it may be the right time to bind this opening in the WTO,” he suggested.
The main player at the Washington meeting, the Global Services Coalition, which brings together, alongside the European Services Forum (ESF), the services federations of the countries taking part in the services negotiations - Australia, Canada, India, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, Taiwan and the United States - once again stepped up to the plate to press the authorities of the countries concerned to find new ways to speed up talks on access to the services market before the G20 Summit in Seoul. “A successful Round will only be possible if the services negotiations are elevated to more centre stage and substantial and commercially meaningful outcomes are achieved, including bindings of new market access and of autonomous liberalisation and commitments to enhanced transparency, efficiency and predictability of services regulations,” the Coalition, supported by the leaders of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), says in a press release. This message was relayed by Australian Trade Minister Craig Emerson, who said that, in 2008, there was not enough on the table in the services chapter to conclude the Round.
Progress on NAMA. After a week of consultations in Geneva (20-24 September), the WTO negotiator on industrial goods (NAMA), Swiss Ambassador Luzius Wasescha said progress had been made on the issue of non-tariff barriers (NTB) to trade in industrial goods, especially in relation to the chemical products sector. (E.H./transl.rt)