Brussels, 24/06/2011 (Agence Europe) - If a definitive agreement concluding the Doha negotiations is now impossible by the end of the year, Pascal Lamy wants an agreement in December on a raft of ministerial texts, providing in particular for commercial advantages for the least-developed countries.
On 22 June, the director-general of the WTO called on the member countries of his organisation to focus on negotiating a compromise package to be concluded at the forthcoming ministerial conference of the WTO in Geneva in December. Having accepted, in late May, that it would be impossible to conclude the entire Doha Round by the end of the year, Pascal Lamy now intends to get a minima agreement out of the member countries, based on trade advantages for the least-developed members (the LDCs), and progress on the facilitation of trade, export competition, fishing subsidies, the monitoring mechanism for special differentiated treatment, and environmental goods and services.
“This will be a lot of work and a lot of challenges, with no guarantee of success. We need a clear sense of urgency on what we can and cannot achieve in December to get to work immediately”, stressed Lamy, who particularly noted that the LDCs have been awaiting an agreement on duty-free and quota-free access to the market, the rules of origin, cotton and the waiver on services since the Hong Kong conference in 2005.
The day before, the trade commissioner Karel De Gucht argued in favour of the conclusion of a minima compromise package in December, based on both measures for the LDCs and on “an appropriate balance of concessions”, between the United States, the EU, Brazil, China and India in particular. (E.H./transl.fl)