EU trade appointee aims to rescue Doha pact talks

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STRASBOURG, Oct 21 (AFP): The European Union's next trade commissioner said yesterday she wanted to rescue the drawn-out negotiations for a new world trade pact that collapsed in July in bitter disagreement.
As trade commissioner, "my first visit will be to Geneva," home of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), said Catherine Ashton, who replaced her fellow Briton Peter Mandelson when he left this month to rejoin the British government.
Mandelson represented the EU at the crucial talks there in July where the world's top trading powers failed to strike a deal in the so-called Doha round of trade talks that has dragged on for seven years.
Ashton said she planned to assure the secretary general of the WTO, Pascal Lamy, "that a successful Doha round remains absolutely central to EU trade policy."
"We have to see whether we can put it back on track," she said Monday, addressing the European Parliament in a hearing to confirm her appointment.
"At a time of economic turbulence we have to redouble our efforts in order to have a deal, and America has an important role to play," she said.
The Doha round was launched in the Qatari capital in 2001, with the aim of liberalising trade rules for the benefit of developing countries. July's summit collapsed over a disagreement on tariffs between the United States and India.
Ashton rejected French proposals to reform the structure of the WTO through measures such as removing sensitive agricultural issues from the negotiations.
"It's not the moment to renegociate the structure," she said. "What we've got to do is make the structure that exists work to our advantage."
Nigel Farage, a eurosceptic British member of the European Parliament, criticised her nomination for the trade post, saying that Ashton, a former undersecretary for education, lacked experience.
"We're in the middle of a credit crunch, we may have protectionism" by countries in trade, he told the parliament. "Now is not the time for the novice, we need a big hitter."