Lamy: The Stress Test Of The Multilateral Trading System Is Still To Come

by Ulrika Lomas, Tax-News.com, Brussels

03 June 2009

In a speech to the General Council, WTO Director General, Pascal Lamy, outlined challenges to maintaining the impetus towards conclusion of the Doha Round. He called on "Ministers to give the necessary instructions for substantive work to happen" in some important ministerial meetings taking place in the next two months, and stated: "We have not yet seen the full social impact of the economic crisis, which will inevitably trigger negative political pressures on the trade front".

Mr Lamy said: "Governments are looking to the WTO system of global trade rules for predictability, transparency, stability and as a provider of confidence for economic operators. All stakeholders agree that open trade remains central to global economic recovery. They are looking at the conclusion of the Doha Round as the lowest hanging global stimulus package available."

He outlined progress made in technical discussions regarding agricultural, non-agricultural, intellectual property, trade facilitation, trade and environment and dispute settlement, but underscored that the key question remains “when will participants be ready to come back to the table at political level?”.

A series of major international political meetings, where the Doha Round will be a key consideration, are scheduled to take place over the next two months. There will be a meeting of Cairns Group and other country trade ministers on 8-9 June. The OECD trade ministers meeting will be another opportunity later in June. In July there will be the meetings of leaders around the G-8 and G8+ as well as the gathering of APEC Trade Ministers. Each of these meetings should provide opportunities for greater political engagement at Ministerial level to move toward agreement on agriculture and industrial goods and on the Round as a whole.

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