Global free trade deal still uncertain: Lamy
Thursday, 20 September 2007
MANILA, Sept 19 (AFP): A global free trade deal nearly six years in the making is not a certainty this year or next despite a convergence of positions by key countries and blocs, World Trade Organisation (WTO) chief Pascal Lamy said today.
Negotiators are meeting in Geneva until Friday in a three-week drive to break a long-standing deadlock in key agricultural negotiations at the Doha round of talks on reducing barriers to global commerce.
They are discussing "draft modalities" that call for cuts in US agricultural support to below 16.2 billion dollars a year, compared to 19 billion dollars allowed now, and reductions in industrial tariffs charged by emerging nations to less than 23 per cent.
"My feeling is that given the level of activity of negotiations in Geneva, my sense is that it is now 'doable'. But saying something is 'doable' is not saying something that is going to be done," Lamy told a news briefing in Manila on the sidelines of an international aid conference.
"I think it's possible but we are not quite yet there although there has been momentum added in recent weeks," he added. The WTO's 151 members are at odds over the extent of new reductions in barriers to trade in agriculture, industrial goods and services amid disagreements between rich and poor countries over cuts in import tariffs and farm subsidies.
Industrialised economies such as the United States and European Union have been seeking easier access to markets in developing countries in exchange for cuts in their own farm protection.
"My own sense is that there are more chances of final convergence today than we had six months ago," Lamy said.
"Whether we get there or not I don't know."
Negotiators are meeting in Geneva until Friday in a three-week drive to break a long-standing deadlock in key agricultural negotiations at the Doha round of talks on reducing barriers to global commerce.
They are discussing "draft modalities" that call for cuts in US agricultural support to below 16.2 billion dollars a year, compared to 19 billion dollars allowed now, and reductions in industrial tariffs charged by emerging nations to less than 23 per cent.
"My feeling is that given the level of activity of negotiations in Geneva, my sense is that it is now 'doable'. But saying something is 'doable' is not saying something that is going to be done," Lamy told a news briefing in Manila on the sidelines of an international aid conference.
"I think it's possible but we are not quite yet there although there has been momentum added in recent weeks," he added. The WTO's 151 members are at odds over the extent of new reductions in barriers to trade in agriculture, industrial goods and services amid disagreements between rich and poor countries over cuts in import tariffs and farm subsidies.
Industrialised economies such as the United States and European Union have been seeking easier access to markets in developing countries in exchange for cuts in their own farm protection.
"My own sense is that there are more chances of final convergence today than we had six months ago," Lamy said.
"Whether we get there or not I don't know."