Brussels, 07/11/2002 (Agence Europe) - In a trans-Atlantic visit this week in order to participate in the Annual TABD Conference, European Commissioner Pascal Lamy had a "very interesting exchange of view" on the relation between trade and development with the Secretary General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan, as well as Ambassadors form the G77 in New York. The leader of the European trade policy was also one of the protagonists in an unscheduled meeting in public with his US counterpart Robert Zoellick, who he met again on Wednesday evening to discuss the current bilateral situation - such as the numerous trade disputes which have been complicating the trans-Atlantic relationship for a year. He also used the encounter to take the pulse of the negotiations in Geneva a year after the World Trade Organisation was given the go-ahead at Doha.
In his New York meetings, Pascal Lamy pointed to the "increasing interest of the United Nations in trade areas that can enormously contribute to development". The link was already there but had not been put into practice, indicated a source close to the Commissioner on Thursday. Kofi Annan inquired about the chances of finding a swift resolution to the residual but not less crucial problems linked to the poor's access to medicine, which the Doha agreement had left out until the end of this year. As indicated the same day in Geneva where 25 trade partners were meeting, the Union is optimistic that solutions will emerge in time, particularly in the case of countries that don not have production capability and which can not therefore benefit from the opportunities offered by the mechanism of compulsory licences (see EUROPE 31 October p 8 on Pascal Lamy's press conference). These countries including Member States will be meeting next week in Sydney for a last-ditch meeting focusing on this issue, as well as on the special and differentiated treatment reserved to developing countries in the framework of Agreements on aspects of intellectual property rights linked to trade (ADPIC).
Meetings between Mr Lamy and Mr Zoellick (they hadn't formally met since last June) took place in a format that was rather unusual, in public during an informal debate at the Foreign Policy council (a New York think-tank). They were both able to explain their perspectives and trade positions. In the debate arranged by the British journalist, Lionel Barber, Mr Lamy was obviously questioned on the Common Agricultural Policy and stressed that sector spending was now more limited. It is currently around EUR 40 billion, the increase is due to inflation. It should be limited to EUR 8 billion by 2013, whereas the Union will consist of 25 members instead of the current 15. On pending European proposals on the agricultural chapter in the Doha Cycle, Mr Lamy again confirmed that the Union would make its position known in time for the March deadline when the WTO is expected to have finished the methodology for this negotiation (see EUROPE 6 November p 17 on Commission declaration on agriculture. Franz Fischler). He stressed that for non-agricultural products, the Union had already put an ambitious plan on the table that covered 70% of LDC exports, 30% of which are sales of textiles.
Mr Zoellick announced that an "aggressive" proposals would soon be presented by the USA on market access for industrial products. The trade representative also criticised the Union for insisting that trade be linked to environment endangering the Doha process. He declare that if Europe continued to push things into the environmental area, which appears threatening to developing countries, they would be unable to move forward. Mr Lamy answered that as Europeans they believed that both aspects were equal and, "If this is just a European point of view, I would say that the environment comes above trade rules".
The two leaders then came together to discuss the long list of trade disputes, including the case of tax breaks for exports where the ball is in the court of the Congress where the Republicans have just taken control of the two chambers.