Brussels, 04/03/2009 (Agence Europe) - On Monday 2 March in a speech delivered to the Lowry Institute, a think tank established in Sydney, WTO Director General Pascal Lamy called on the world's governments not to give way to protectionist temptation. With the contraction of trade further to the global economic crisis, which could reach 3% in 2009, “an enormous proportion of domestic jobs depending on trade and export - nearly 12 million jobs in the US, 6.2 million in France and 100 million in China - could disappear. I think it is important to reflect on this as we think of devising responses to the current crisis and as we hear talk about protecting domestic jobs”, Lamy said before going on to add: “Is it credible to imagine that one country can protect its domestic market without others doing the same? (…) The domino effect that such moves could cause would be devastating. And this is why isolationism, even 'smart' isolationism as some are advocating, is a recipe for global slump. And this is why resisting protectionism and avoiding an aggravation of the current crisis is an imperative today. The reality is that protectionist measures by individual countries are unlikely to help in the recovery efforts.
Instead, what is necessary is to coordinate the domestic stimulus packages, to cooperate in addressing global challenges and to think of using the least harmful trade policy instruments”. In this respect, Mr Lamy seeks to promote the WTO mechanism of trade policy review, which provides WTO members with a forum for dialogue on how best to use their trade policies and help the recovery, before once more urging member countries to conclude the Doha Round. (E.H./transl/jl)