WTO regrets failure of Doha Agenda
Mr Alejandro Jara, Deputy Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO), has said the failure of Doha Agenda would have serious implications on the ongoing efforts by all developing countries to address their challenges and, in particular, meet the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
He noted that it was becoming more critical by the day as the economic and financial outlook continued to deteriorate while negotiations were deadlocked.
“The most pressing crisis, which is relevant to growth and poverty reduction, is that of the current food crisis,” he said.
Mr Jara, who was addressing the maiden Geneva Trade and Development Forum (GTDF) in Crans-Montana, Switzerland, said whilst the WTO could not provide immediate solutions, it could, however, facilitate the Doha Round to provide medium to long-term solutions, to better connect demand and offer.
He said a comprehensive WTO deal could assist to soften the impact of high prices.
The Deputy Director-General noted that although “Aid for Trade” was excluded from the negotiation agenda, a failure to conclude the round successfully risked impacting negatively on the scale of resources that donors had undertaken to provide.
“We need an integrated agenda for boosting the productive capacities of developing countries so that they could translate these new trade opportunities into trade flows, in addition to freer and fairer trade rules.”
Mr Jara debunked the assertion that multilateral trading system had broken down but added that the system was actually transforming itself to reflect the new commercial realities.
“It is being reshaped by some new and sometimes quite aggressive players, who have high stakes in the system and who now vigorously defend their interests.”
Mr Jara said over 30 ministers of trade met in Geneva recently to establish agricultural and industrial modalities towards a final deal of the Doha Round of negotiations adding that addressing the remaining hurdles and the long standing differences was likely to give the system a boost.
He said the WTO members entered the conference looking at agricultural subsidies, tariffs and industrial tariffs, declaring that a convergence was reached on agricultural subsidies, even if, specific extra reduction for cotton subsidies remained unaddressed.
Mr Jara said success was reached for the various elements of the Doha package designed to address the developed and developing world's many sensitivities on special products reserved exclusively for the developing world, with these products taking either a lower or reduced tariff than the norm of no reduction at all, to make trade opening more gradual.
He enumerated progress in existing special safeguard mechanisms, quota tariffs and tariff quota administration, export competition pillar, preference erosion and tropical product as well as convergence on the thorny issue of bananas, its settlement, which, he said, was overdue.
WTO negotiations collapsed on the details of the special safeguard mechanism for agricultural producers for the developing world, basically, on circumstances, extent of volume surge, price decline of imported products and magnitude of extra duty.
Maxwell Awumah, GNA Special Correspondent, Crans-Montana, Switzerland