Can Doha Round lead world economy out of crisis?

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BOAO, (Hainan), April 19 (Xinhua): The global financial crisis may provide new opportunities for the Doha Round trade talks, but the time- consuming negotiation and recent trend of protectionism have added to the uncertainties.
In a panel discussion "Doha Round: Leading Out of Crisis" at the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) in south China's island province of Hainan, officials from China, France, Japan and the Republic of Korea (ROK) applauded the idea of "protectionism does not protect" and vowed for cooperation to push forward the talks.
In his Saturday speech at the BFA, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao called for comprehensive and balanced outcomes in the Doha Round negotiations and give, in particular, more trade support to developing countries.
Early this month, leaders at the London G20 summit agreed to infuse about 250 billion US dollars over the next two years to revive global trade hampered under the crisis. The move is expected to give a push to the Doha Round trade talks.
Lamy noted that what needs to be done now is to "push back against the protectionism" as well as to "push forward the Doha Round trade talks."
The completion of the trade talks will help fight the protectionism, he added.
What he said was echoed by Kim Jong-hoon, ROK trade minister, who called the conclusion of the talks the best way to fight the financial crisis.
According to the France-based Research Center in International Economics, thanks to the trade globalization driven by the Doha Round talks, the world economy would witness an extra growth of 43 billion US dollars each year, together with 30 billion US dollars from service trade liberalization.
WTO's Doha Round trade talks, which started in the Qatari capital of Doha in 2001, has stalled repeatedly mainly due to splits between developed and developing countries on key issues such as agricultural subsidies, tariffs, liberalizing services and improving workers' rights.
Rich countries should allow more agricultural products from poor countries into their markets, said Bob Hawke, former prime minister of Australia, who attended the BFA.
In an earlier interview, Lamy told reporters that Doha round of global trade talks could be concluded within eight months of preliminary agreements on industrial tariffs and agricultural subsidies.
He said at the Boao forum that negotiators had "finished nearly 80 percent of the talks."
However, the complex cause, which encompasses as many as 153 members and 20 topics, is still be a test of patience.
"Each country usually gets only three minutes to voice their opinion every day because of the large number of countries involved," said Kim. "We need patience," he noted.
A recent trend of protectionism may also dash the hope of the talks.
Despite a pledge by Group 20 leaders in November 2008 in the United States to avoid protectionist measures, 17 of the countries have since erected new trade restrictions, according to a World Bank report.