Thread: It’s encouraging, ministers are negotiating now: WTO DG La

22 Nov, 2010, 05.09AM IST, Amiti Sen,
It’s encouraging, ministers are negotiating now: WTO DG Lamy

The G20 leaders recent resolve to shun protectionism and wrap up the ongoing Doha round of trade talks by the end of next year has infused fresh enthusiasm into the World Trade Organization negotiations languishing for over two years now.

In an exclusive interview with ET, WTO director general Pascal Lamy talks about the importance of the system and what it would take to conclude the round. Excerpts:

Do you see more intense activity at the WTO headquarters in Geneva after the G20 meet?

Before the G20, I said that in order to conclude the round we need political momentum and technical speed. The G20 has given the signal to transform this in proper engagement in Geneva and switch from the discussion mode that we had in the recent months to the negotiation mode.

Ambassadors are now engaging themselves in quite a number of technical issues that until now they had left to their experts. They are now taking these issues into their own hands. It is one thing to discuss, to inform, to clarify and it is another thing to negotiate.

Is there a road map to the finish line?

We have a message from the G20 to finish the round before the end of the next year. For that to happen, political understanding on the final blocks should come in the first half of the year. Which in turn means that texts will have to be on the table during spring time. It is simple calculation.

The US is now talking about more market access from emerging countries like India, China and Brazil. But these countries say that this would amount to reopening of what has been agreed upon. Could this create a problem?

The US is saying that it does not see enough of what the present formulas give in terms of market access because it doesn’t know the special products in agriculture that would not take tariff cuts, they cannot assess the impact of the special safeguard measures till the parameters are finalised and they don’t know what will happen in sectorals.

It says in each of these three things it can’t go back to Congress and say how much market access there is for it. So it is a mix of clarity and ambition.

You recently said that if the Doha round fails, it would be for the first time in the history of WTO and GATT. Do you see the possibility of a failure?

I hope not. My point was that it would be a very severe blow to the area of global governance which is in relative terms the most sophisticated, the most organised and the most consistent. We have rules, we have a machinery to implement these rules and we have dispute settlement mechanism.

There is no other place in the international economic sphere where you have such a multilateral system. As we reach the end game, people have to realise that they have to make more concessions to get more on the table. We need more global governance and global regulation in the economic environment. We have to remember that this is the best part of the system.

India has been unhappy about the noises made in the US against outsourcing and hike in visa fees for professionals. Does WTO have a view on this?

Mode 4 (involving rules for movement of professionals) is part of the negotiations and it has been of interest to India for a long time.

When US President Barack Obama was here, he made a point that US is not obsessed about outsourcing because it feels that operations for the US provided in India are contribution to the US economy. That was the message he gave.

What about services? Will it be discussed together with goods as had been planned before the Hong Kong ministerial introduced the concept of sequencing?

The endgame is about closing issues. This is how the small groups have been structured by WTO ambassadors in Geneva . The rule of the game now is that we look across the board at all issues.

What are your expectations from India?

What I expect from India, as from the others, is endgame engagement which is to belong to this consensus that we are reaching the time when pockets must be emptied.

It will only happen if there is a consensus. I don’t empty my pockets if you don’t . I believe India is ready for the endgame. Of course, it will not be there alone by itself. It needs others to be part of it.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/opi ... 967167.cms

You recently said that if the Doha round fails, it would be for the first time in the history of WTO and GATT. Do you see the possibility of a failure?

I hope not. My point was that it would be a very severe blow to the area of global governance which is in relative terms the most sophisticated, the most organised and the most consistent. We have rules, we have a machinery to implement these rules and we have dispute settlement mechanism.

Wake Up Americans. It's time to put the brakes on full bore and press with everything we've got. The United States decides its trade policies not G20 Summit Leaders or the WTO. Americans must demand protectionism for our country, period. How much farther do you want our economy to fall because of free trade treason, WTO and "global governance".

Americans must not only say no, we must say hell no and eject any President or member of Congress who doesn't agree with US in 2012. We must convince without exception every good member of Congress who for some untold reason thinks erroneously that free trade is good for America, that it isn't because it bankrupts our country. Some think Fannie Mae and AIG bankrupted our country. They didn't. Free trade, illegal immigration, mandated taxation, War on Drugs and bans on domestic oil and gas drilling bankrupted our country which bankrupted AIG and Fannie Mae, not the other way around.