WTO boss ready to call ministers back to Geneva

Joseph Olanyo
(Kampala)

In a statement at United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) on September 16, Mr Lamy said that “depending on progress made by the negotiators, I am ready to call Ministers to Geneva to try and close the issues which remain open”. “The reasons why we must conclude the Round are becoming more critical by the day as the economic and financial outlook continues to deteriorate,” he said.

Hardly one month since the collapse of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) mini ministerial meeting in Geneva, the WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy, says he is ready to call ministers back to Geneva.

The governments’ latest attempt to salvage a deal in the Doha Round of Trade talks broke down on  July 29, as ministers acknowledged that they were unable to reach a compromise after nine days of a high-level summit in Geneva Switzerland. The talks launched in 2001 in Doha were seen as providing a cornerstone for future global trade are now facing an even more uncertain future, despite considerable headway towards an agreement.

“I would have preferred to speak at today’s Session on the “Evolution of the International Trading System” about the agreement reached to establish agriculture and industrial modalities towards a final deal of the Doha negotiations, but I cannot,” he said in his statement posted on WTO website.
 
“Instead I will tell you just how much we stand to lose if we do not carry on with the very hard and arduous work of concluding the Doha Round. I am convinced that a deal is still possible. I still believe that with yet another push we could still reach our target. This belief is not obstinacy. It is based on a hard look at what is on the table and what remains to be done”.

Mr Lamy said while the negotiations have not yet been able to come up with modalities, the ministers  managed to fill many of the gaps existing on thorny issues which had remained intractable for years.

“Although we are not quite there in terms of an agreement, we have moved a long way. I believe it is in all members’ interests, big and small, to reach an agreement, and to do so sooner rather than later. As many of you know, I have always been and continue to be a strong believer in the multilateral trading system” he said.