Brussels, 29/07/2015 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 28 July, WTO Director-General, Roberto Azevedo, told the WTO General Council that it was highly unlikely that the 161 member countries of the organisation would be able to develop a detailed and complete “post-Bali” work programme on the main chapters of the Doha Round (agriculture, industrial products, services and rules) for the deadline at the end of July, so that a political agreement could be reached at the 10th WTO Ministerial Conference in Nairobi next December.
Addressing the Heads of the 161 delegations, Azevedo regretted that “The reality is that despite willingness to explore different approaches and consider proposals or ideas, many members have still not been willing to move towards convergence. Progress has remained very limited”.
The Head of the WTO, however, said that the current delay did not mean in any way that the member countries would not be able to reach a meaningful outcome at the Nairobi Council and he urged them that after the summer break in September, “members should be ready to hit the ground running”.
Addressing the press on Tuesday, WTO spokesperson, Keith Rockwell, was also downbeat about being able to respect the deadline at the end of July for completing the post-Bali work agenda and said that he would find it very surprising if they managed to finalise the work over the next 72 hours, which was therefore a disappointment to him. He explained that there were significant differences in the different positions and he regretted that the most advanced countries had refused to make concessions in key sectors. He added that among the major actors, there was a huge disparity between what they were demanding from the others and what they were prepared to give. Rockwell warned that in the absence of a meaningful result in Nairobi, the WTO would be placed in a difficult and dangerous situation.
In a follow-up to the Bali mini-agreement concluded in December 2013 and implementation of the Trade Facilitation Agreement reached at the end of 2014, WTO members had made a commitment to establishing a comprehensive work programme on the main sections in the Doha Round in an effort to make a global political agreement possible in Nairobi. (Emmanuel Hagry)