Brussels, 05/11/2001 (Agence Europe) - It is in a "positive, determined and serene" frame of mind that European Commissioner Pascal Lamy prepares to leave for Doha, where the IVth Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) is to open on Friday. The 142 ministers making up the highest body of the institution will, however, only have five days (and nights) to overcome their most serious disagreements in order to give the kick-off to the new round of talks, on 13 November (EUROPE of 1 November, pp.10-11).
The Europeans and especially Pascal Lamy have done everything possible to get this 9th round of talks since the multilateral trading system was set in place in 1947-48 back on track after the fiasco in Seattle, without waiting for the "more auspicious" period that most of their partners were hoping for. "Our need to create the conditions for stronger and sustainable economic growth through greater trade liberalisation is even more pressing today. In order to develop world trade, we must also organise it, give it a framework of rules. We suffer from a regulatory deficit that must be filled", said Mr Lamy. He also recalled that the "rules of the WTO have not been updated since 1995". "What company or organisation can allow itself such a time-lag today? The WTO must avail itself of what it needs as soon as possible in order to meet the challenges of the 21st century!", he declared. Another driving force of this stubbornness to cover the rest of the world through "equitable and controlled" globalisation - the new slogan that summarises the European position - is the need to integrate the developing countries more into the system. "We have made a great effort to take their concerns into account since Seattle", said Mr Lamy. And, far from being unaware "that at the outset, some considered my efforts as being Don Quichottesques", he observes: "the fact that some voices have now rallied around out position makes me believe that the course I have maintained cannot be as bad as that, remains to be seen if we are capable of reaching the harbour". According to him, the 20% of preparations for which ministers are called to the rescue "certainly are the most difficult", but the "gap between different stances on subjects such as agriculture, anti-dumping or implementation may be narrowed if we all adopt a reasonable approach that marked the meetings in Mexico and Singapore. There is always a risk of failure but, this time, we are entering the last furlong in the process in much better form to succeed than in Seattle". In Doha, "we must (also) set a deadline to concluding these negotiations", and "given the distance we have already run, I believe that within three years we should be able to make it. Meanwhile, we will have provided a very important signal that will contribute in lighting up an economic sky that is pretty bleak right now". And what of the mistrust that many of the Union's partners have regarding its ambitions (notably environmental and social) for the next round? "I believe that the best way of dissipating this mistrust, is to explain clearly what it is we want and what we certainly don't want", Lamy answered, stressing that "developing countries also want rules. The Thais, for example. It is in their interest that there are rules to take on the Americans who are blocking their shrimps because of a method of fishing accused of harming turtles". As for the social aspect, "what we want, is for a permanent dialogue to be established between the WTO and the International Labour Organisation (ILO), a working relationship looking at the social consequences of trade measures that stem from globalisation. Not something to be mistrustful about really".