Brussels, 02/05/2011 (Agence Europe) - Pascal Lamy is to consult with the delegations in Geneva and with trade ministers in the hope of finding a meaningful way out of the stalemate in negotiations. The 153 member nations will take stock of the situation on 31 May, the day after a meeting of the OECD. The EU has already made its intentions clear by proposing a compromise solution on sector-specific agreements in industry.
On Friday 29 April, ambassadors of the 153 WTO member nations had endorsed the plan put forward by Pascal Lamy, who heads the multilateral organisation, leading up to this consultation with delegations in Geneva and with ministers around the world in the search for a different way of achieving a breakthrough in the Doha Development Agenda negotiations.
Pascal Lamy once more warned the trade negotiations committee that the Round was once more on the “brink of failure”, and said it was therefore disappointing that no ground for compromise had been found on the issue of industrial tariff liberalisation (NAMA - Non-Agricultural Market Access), now the main obstacle to an agreement being reached. “My frank assessment is that under the right conditions of temperature and pressure a deal would be doable, bearing in mind that 'nothing is agreed until everything is agreed'”, the WTO director general stressed, nonetheless pointing out that this would only hold if the members reached an agreement on industrial products, an area where the “magnitude of the gaps among the major players is effectively blocking progress in other areas and is putting into serious doubt the conclusion of the DDA this year”.
While 80% of the agreement, which provides for major reductions in subsidies and agricultural customs duties, has already been achieved, according to Lamy, differences have been shaping up since 2008 between members on the key chapter of industrial products. The United States, which considers it has already accepted sweeping concessions in agricultural matters, demands that the large emergent countries - with Brazil, China and India in the lead - should open up their markets more to manufactured goods, by fully taking part in sectoral agreements that aim at the elimination of customs duties in 14 key industrial sectors (including automobiles, machines, electronics, chemical products, textiles and toys).
In an attempt to bring the situation out of deadlock, the EU presented a compromise solution on Friday for sector-specific agreements, relating to three major sectors (machinery, electronics and chemical products), which, it is hoped, will meet with the satisfaction of developing as well as developed countries (see EUROPE 10368).
As the next stages of the talks have not yet been defined, the 153 WTO member nations will meet again on 31 May to take stock of the situation once more. (E.H./transl.jl)