Brussels, 07/09/2009 (Agence Europe) - Meeting in New Delhi with their Indian counterpart Anand Sharma and World Trade Organisation (WTO) Director General Pascal Lamy, trade ministers from 34 countries, including the seven major WTO players (Australia, Brazil, China, India, Japan, the United States and the EU), agreed unanimously to resume Doha Round multilateral negotiations, which have been deadlocked since the breakdown of the previous ministerial meeting in July 2008 (see EUROPE 9714), with a view to reaching final agreement in 2010. Sharma may have hailed the “breakthrough” in discussions, but his opposite numbers, though positive, were more cautious. “One of the main results is that we have a clear commitment on the part of all participants on the final deadline of 2010” for the conclusion of talks, said Lutz Güllner, spokesman for Commissioner Catherine Ashton. In more concrete terms, ministers agreed to a meeting of their high-ranking officials in Geneva on 14 September to draft a work programme. At the end of July, Lamy was already speaking about a roadmap for technical negotiations in the autumn (see EUROPE 9951). The WTO ministerial plenary meeting in Geneva at the end of November will provide the opportunity to take stock of progress in talks. The pressure is now on the leaders of the G20 group of developed and emerging economic powers, who are due to meet in Pittsburgh at the end of this month, and from whom a political signal is awaited. “I never under-estimate the power of political statements,” stated Ashton. “The next step in this, absolutely, is a re-affirmation in Pittsburgh and that's a pre-condition to this process moving forward,” said New Zealand minister Tim Groser.
The fact remains, however, that the most difficult fundamental issues, which led to the deadlock in discussions last year, such as the special safeguard mechanism in agriculture or the sectoral agreements in the industrial goods (NAMA) chapter, were not directly addressed in New Delhi. There is, however, growing consensus that the chapter on services must not be neglected, and above all that the compromise package agreed in July 2008, tying up seven years of work (see EUROPE 9712), must not be undone. “We may have to have some sort of retouching here and there but we cannot reopen what we discussed before, that's what I mean by the end game,” warned Brazilian minister Celso Amorim. A final agreement will have to find a delicate balance between US demands on market access and those of the emerging economies which are refusing any further concession to fund a development round. What is at stake is all the more important given the strong temptation to adopt a more protectionist stance in this period of global economic crisis. India, which was firmly criticised for its part in blocking the Round in 2008, seized the opportunity to change the obstructionist image given by Sharma's predecessor Kamal Nath, and to present itself as a responsible power. The highly sensitive issue of protecting its agriculture is far from being resolved, however. (E.H./transl.rt)