Brussels, 15/03/2005 (Agence Europe) - “The main aim of my candidature to the post of WTO Director General is to conclude the Doha Round. It must give results that meet the interests of all members (…) and this is sufficiently ambitious to really qualify it as a development round”, the advisor for the president of Uruguay on international trade talks, Ambassador Carlos Perez Del Castillo, said on Tuesday when speaking to the EP Committee on External Trade chaired by Spanish Socialist Enrique Baron. “We have little time left in which to conclude the round”, he warned. Mr Perez Del Castillo placed special emphasis on his qualities: - his knowledge of trade and development (on which he has worked for over thirty years), his participation in three rounds of talks (Tokyo, Uruguay and Doha) and his experience in key positions at the WTO (as president of the General Council and of the Dispute Settlement Body). Mr Perez Del Castillo, a man of consensus “intimately attached to multilateralism”, considers that the main challenge raised by multilateralism is to return to the central role of the WTO. “I am one of those who think that we are in a phase when WTO mechanisms are being upset by preferential agreements of every kind that are increasing in number all the time and have adverse effects on the principle of non-discrimination”, he stressed. The WTO runs a serious risk with this proliferation of agreements, of which there are already over 300, he said, adding that we must return to multiform international rules. The second challenge, in his view, is to “transform the way in which the development issue is tackled”. He believes one must go beyond the preferential treatment logic in development countries and give fresh impetus to development by taking radical measures in global agreements, for example by allowing zero duty access to the markets of rich countries, as well as access to certain developing countries for some products and in some sectors. Mr Perez Del Castillo considers it is urgent to give the public a positive image of the WTO - mainly when there is “unfair criticism from 'alter'-globalisation movements and NGOs that accuse it of being in the pay of multinational companies”, he told EUROPE. On the way the WTO functions, his fourth challenge, the Uruguayan ambassador - who does not agree with “those who consider the organisation is obsolete” - is against radical changes to the way it operates. “Contrary to what some believe, the WTO is a very democratic institution. Each member nation has the right of veto”, he recalled, adding, however, that there is room for improvement when it comes to transparency and that he planned to remedy this. Strengthened coordination with the other international organisations, and in particular the World Bank, is the Uruguayan national's fifth priority. “We must step up complementarity between these institutions to obtain the best possible results for development”, he said.
When questioned by EUROPE, Mr Perez Del Castillo explained that the issue of market access was biggest problem to overcome in the Doha Round. He said that he was in favour of simultaneous progress in each sector (agriculture, industrial goods and services) rather than moving forward in overall packets. He explained that, “No sector should be excluded. They should all be incorporated. For more concrete final results, it is necessary to get things moving in each section at the same time”. Del Castillo also indicated that WTO higher management candidates should not interfere in Doha negotiations and that “to get a positive result in Hong Kong, it is essential that governments demonstrate a real will to get it”. Del Castillo has broad support in Latin America, except in Brazil, Cuba and Venezuela, and from at leas t7 G20 countries.