Brussels, 11/09/2006 (Agence Europe) - All the negotiators assembled in Río on 10 September, by invitation of the group of the 23 emerging countries of the G-20, at a meeting attended by the Director-General of the WTO, Pascal Lamy, expressed their political willingness to relaunch the Doha negotiations which have been suspended indefinitely since the end of June. "The Round is alive, the patient is out of intensive care and is now back on the ward", said the Brazilian Minister for foreign affairs and G-20 chef de file, Celso Amorim at the press conference closing the session (our translation throughout). "None of us wants the Round to fail and we are all well aware of the progress made up to the time of its suspension. It would be a huge risk to lose this progress", he added. "All the members of the WTO replied 'yes' to the resumption of negotiations", said Pascal Lamy, adding that the suspension of the Round was a "serious accident". "But the WTO countries are prepared to take the negotiations back up again from where we left off in July and to concentrate on the agricultural plank, which is where the damage was done", explained the Director-General of the WTO, going on to warn that "a lot of time and a lot of work are still needed before we return to the negotiating table". "It will still take a couple of weeks of technical preparations, particularly on the issue of special products from the developing countries", he continued. "There is not just the desire to resume the talks, there is also an inclination towards flexibility", added Mr Amorim, who, together with his G-20 colleagues, met representatives of the three major world trade powers one by one on Sunday morning: the American Trade Representative Susan Schwab, Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson and the Japanese Agriculture Minister Shoichi Nakagawa, to discuss the chances of resuming negotiations.
Mr Mandelson highlights need for reform of American agriculture policy
"We all need to put more on the table", reiterated the European negotiator Peter Mandelson, who told the Río meeting that the Union would keep its offer open for the average reduction of customs duty, which it is prepared to move towards G-20 demands (to exceed 51%) and that it may further improve its offer on internal subsidies. A failure of the Doha Round would be "practically a criminal attitude and profoundly irresponsible", he warned that same day, in the pages of Brazilian daily newspaper O Estado de São Paulo. "It is only logical for the United States to improve their offer on the reduction of internal support to agriculture, not only because they have committed to the Round, but due to the internal need to reform their agriculture policy", he stressed, pointed out that in 2003, the Union had carried out a "most painful" reform of the CAP. "It has not been easy to manage this politically. I can understand the US position, but there is no alternative to reform", insisted Mr Mandelson, going on to conclude: "we cannot support an international trade system with such huge distortions due to subsidies and tariff barriers which are simply too high. It is neither fair, nor sustainable, nor justifiable, nor right ".
Washington sees market access as key to negotiations
For her part, the American Trade Representative Susan Schwab had showed no new openness, whilst reiterating the commitment to the United States in favour of an "ambitious and well-balanced result" of the Doha Round. "There is still time to resuscitate these negotiations if the political will exists", she pointed out, going on to state that the United States would do "what it needed to do" to ensure a happy conclusion to the negotiations. Repeating that "market access" was the "key to the negotiations", Ms Schwab stood firm on the plank on internal support within the American offer. Washington's intransigence on the reduction of internal support is, however, seen by its partners as the main reason behind the deadlock. "Brazil's position is clear, without a substantial reduction in US internal subsidies, the Round will not be concluded", came the warning, however, from the meeting's host, Celso Amorim, in an interview with O Estado de Sao Paulo. In reply to Ms Schwab, who stressed the "collective obligation and collective effort" incumbent on all WTO countries to move forward the negotiations on agriculture and on industrial products and services, the Bangladeshi Trade Minister, Hafiz Uddin Ahmad, who was representing the LDC group in Río, pointed out that "the responsibility for progress in trade negotiations lies more on the shoulders of the developed countries than on those of the developing countries". Lastly, although the general feeling at the WTO is that the mid-term Congress elections will prevent a rapid resumption of talks, Ms Schawb stated, for her part, that the American elections would have "no impact" on the negotiations.