Brussels, 22/03/2011 (Agence Europe) - Karel De Gucht's visit to the Asia-Pacific region on 13-21 March allowed the commissioner for trade to examine the multilateral Doha negotiations with his counterparts from Malaysia, Australia and New Zealand. These negotiations were relaunched at the World Economic Forum in Davos at the end of January. Although he called for concessions to be made by all the different actors in an effort to conclude a global agreement within the window of opportunity provided in 2011, De Gucht highlighted (in all the different countries he visited) the role played by emerging countries, particularly China. In Kuala Lumpur on 15 March, the commissioner gave an initial indication: “If you want to have a result in July, inputs need to come not only from the developed world, but also developing countries … Since its launch in Doha in 2001, the world has changed dramatically with major emerging countries coming to the fore”.
Meeting with Australian minister, Craig Emerson, on 16 March in Sydney, De Gucht sent out a new message to emerging nations: “The clock is ticking very hard. We have come to a moment where we have to make up our minds.” He had initially informed China that “limits to government subsidies should be an integral part of any agreement concluded”. Speaking in Auckland on 20 March, the commissioner insisted that in order to revive negotiations, “two asymmetries needed to be corrected. One was an over-emphasis on agriculture and the other a preoccupation with the needs of emerging and developing countries. If you want to get something agreeable to everybody, you will have to rebalance this. The emerging countries should realise that to a certain extent they have emerged.” (E.H./transl.fl)