22 June 2007
Doha Round Cannot be Allowed to Fail
Wellington Chamber of Commerce CEO Charles Finny today commented that the Chamber hopes that the failure of the Potsdam
G4 Trade Ministers meeting doesn’t destroy all hope of completion of the global WTO negotiation.
“It does appear that the EU and US positions are converging. That is positive. Let’s put the focus on agriculture aside
for a while and see what progress can be achieved on non-agricultural market access and the critically important area of
services. If a good deal is possible on services this will go some way to compensate US and EU disappointment over the
quality of what is on offer in the non-agricultural goods area.”
The Chamber shares the concerns expressed by fellow members of the Global Services Coalition meeting in Bogota over
developments at the Potsdam meeting. The Global Services Coalition members today issued the following release:
Global Services Coalition Laments the Failure of G4 Leaders to Unlock the Doha Round in Potsdam, Germany
(Bogotá, Colombia) “The Doha Round negotiations are at a critical moment with a failure of the G4 Trade Ministers
meeting in Potsdam, Germany. The Global Services Coalition (GSC) said today, at the Third World Services Congress (WSC)
in Bogotá, that the opportunity to reach a commercially meaningful agreement in the Round is slipping further away.
Indeed G4 Ministers were unable to achieve a breakthrough in agriculture and NAMA. Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso
Amorim has been quoted as saying that both Brazil and India have walked away from this critical meeting. The GSC is very
disappointed that services were not even discussed.
The Coalition urged that decision makers consider the gravity of this moment and ensure that meaningful discussions
continue in Geneva and substantively address the three main pillars; services, agriculture and NAMA in the coming weeks.
With services representing 60% of World GDP, global executives urged that Ministers compromise on agriculture and NAMA
and summon the required vision to harness the political will to conclude a successful Doha Round which must include
substantial new liberalization in services.”
ENDS