Helsinki, 11/09/2006 (Agence Europe) - “We deeply regret the suspension of the Doha Round which can have a negative impact on world trade”, Eero Heinäluoma, the Finnish Finance Minister, said on Saturday after the informal Ecofin Council of which he was the Chair. “Negotiations must be resumed as swiftly as possible”, he said, calling on all parties to make an effort. Although the relaunch of negotiations remains a priority, the EU does not rule out progress on the bilateral front. Continuing negotiations in favour of bilateral agreements and seeking a solution in the multilateral context are not contradictory initiatives or strategies, Commisioenr Almunia said. He went on to add that, naturally, the EU supports a multilateral approach but if, by a stroke of misfortune, the Doha Round is not a success in the short term, Europe cannot stand back and do nothing while the others seek to defend their interests through bilateral agreements. This view is shared by the president of the European Central Bank (ECB), Jean-Claude Trichet, who sees this as a “complementary” approach and considers the suspension of the talks “particularly inappropriate”.
On 10 September, at the opening of the ASEM summit (see related article), President Barroso urged for the Round to be resumed “without delay”. He also pointed out that other trade arrangements between regions and countries must be complementary to the multilateral trading system. In his opening speech at the Asia Europe Business Forum, that same day, Finnish President Tarja Halonen said she hoped the fact that “our friends Pascal Lamy and Peer Mandelson are not at the meeting today is a sign that serious efforts are being made to continue discussions” (see other article on the G20 meeting in Brazil).