WTO chief says positIve sign yet to come

Free trade agreement in limbo again

PARIS: World Trade Organization (WTO) head Pascal Lamy said on Friday he saw no “positive sign” for world trade, which has been battered by the global economic crisis.

“I do not share the optimism” of some governments for an economic recovery, “because from the point of view of international trade, I do not see any positive sign at the moment,” Lamy said during a debate here.

He reiterated the WTO’s forecast of a nine-percent drop in world trade this year, “unprecedented since the last world war.”

“There is nothing to say that we are not still deep in this crisis which has begun and will continue,” he said, warning that developing countries in particular would face “social consequences.”

The World Bank said Thursday the global economy was set to contract some 3.0 percent this year, sharper than previously estimated, urging more aid for developing countries.

This is in contrast to Lamy’s statement on Tuesday, he said that a new global trade pact should reach a conclusion next year after changes in the US and Indian governments.

Top US and Indian trade representatives agreed to “reset” the stalled Doha Round of trade liberalization talks during a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of a conference of agricultural exporters in Indonesia, he said.

US Trade Representative Ron Kirk, the former Dallas mayor, who was appointed by President Barack Obama in March, met the new Indian trade minister, Anand Sharma, for the first time here on Monday.

“What I saw is Ron Kirk and Anand Sharma clearly engaging in a process that should lead to the conclusion of the round sometime next year,” Lamy said, describing the Bali meeting as “significant.”

Kirk avoided specifics about his meeting with Sharma, but said the United States was committed to outlining a new basis for Doha negotiations by August, when the WTO begins its summer break.

He said it was time for a fresh approach to conclude the Doha Round as a stimulus for recovery from the global economic crisis. The round collapsed in July last year amid differences between India and the United States.

Kirk was speaking at the end of a ministerial-level conference of the 19-member Cairns Group, which ac­counts for 25 percent of the world’s agricultural trade and supports open markets.

Washington’s refusal to accept Indian demands for measures to protect vulnerable industries from a flood of cheap imports contributed to the failure of the last round of Doha negotiations in Geneva last July.

Although the United States is not a member of the group, he said he fully endorsed its joint com­muniqué calling for world leaders to show the “political will” to re-start the Doha negotiations.

Lamy said 80 percent of the global deal was done, but significant obstacles remained especially regarding tariffs and market access, with some countries wanting to protect vulnerable industries and others wanting new markets.  –AFP