Brussels, 09/10/2006 (Agence Europe - Speaking at the London School of Economics on Monday, Peter Mandelson said that the course set on bilateral free-trade agreements (FTA) in his new commercial strategy (EUROPE 9278 and 9279) is in no way contradictory with the Union's commitment in favour of a multilateral agreement at the WTO as part of the Doha negotiations. The Commissioner for Trade considers that "New Generation" free-trade agreements concluded with partners selected on the bases of economic criteria will help to pave the way, at multilateral level, in fields in which WTO rules are not fully applied- investment, competition, State aid and public procurement. "Making progress in these sectors bilaterally will not compromise the multilateral system but, quite the contrary, will help the parties to carry out a 'test' on liberalisation, which may ultimately be extended to multilateral level", said Mr Mandelson, quoting the example of bilateral agreements on services and GATS. "It is true that too many bilateral agreements skip the sensitive issues and therefore don't create new trade. But this is a political choice (...). The Union wants to conclude free-trade agreements which cover a broad range of sectors: not only goods, but services, non-tariff barriers and rules on investment, competition and public procurement", he continued, going on to conclude: "the dangers of trade policy do not reside in the political choice to be made between multilateralism and bilateralism, but in the choice between an open and ambitious approach to bilateralism, aiming to move forward with liberalisation and the multilateral system as a whole, and a closed-off approach, which shelves the sensitive issues whilst opening up certain boundaries only to close others". (eh)