MANILA, 20 September 2007 — Global trade talks have reached the final lap and prospects of achieving a deal are greater today than six months ago, the head of the World Trade Organization said yesterday.
“My diagnosis at this stage, both in the political and technical level, is that things are converging and a deal is possible,” Pascal Lamy told a news conference on the sidelines of a Manila forum to boost trade for poorer countries.
“My own sense is that there are more chances of final convergence today than we had six months ago,” Lamy said. “My feeling is that (leaders) have a common sense that we are reaching the final lap of negotiations.”
He said momentum has gathered in recent weeks, with developed countries agreeing to lower farm subsidies and tariffs. “The only question is how much in ranges which have been tabled by the chairs of the negotiating groups,” he said.
There is also awareness among countries, he said, “that if this round was to fail, that will be a big issue, which probably would go beyond trade in terms of geopolitical consequences.”
Lamy said he was “comforted by this sense of trade-offs on nuts and bolts and not only on attitudes or postures which I have seen in recent weeks and not only on the agricultural negotiation.” He gave no details. Developed countries “have gotten the message and are ready to bite the bullet on things like agricultural tariffs and agricultural subsidies, tariff peaks in industrialized goods,” he said, adding that “a number of emerging countries also need to contribute to this trade opening.”
The negotiations, aimed at forging a global accord that would reduce trade barriers, resumed in Geneva earlier this month. The so-called Doha Round has been bogged down by bickering between rich and poor countries over cuts in farm subsidies and industrial tariffs.
Lamy said the cloudier international economic signals this year and increasing temptation for more protectionism might push China, Brazil, India, the European Union and the US — key players in the WTO negotiations — to settle their differences to nudge the talks to a conclusion.
