Doha Round Cannot be Allowed to Fail

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

© Scoop Media