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Lamy: Early deal for poor states in Doha talks tough
Some Least Developed Countries (LDCs) have called for an "early harvest" of measures to benefit them as down-payment for a deal in the talks, already in their 8th year. These would include proposals already widely accepted, such as giving poor countries duty-free, quota-free access for their exports to richer countries.
The Doha talks, launched in late 2001 to boost world trade by slashing farm subsidies and agricultural and industrial tariffs to help poor countries prosper, are already the longest-running trade round. But rich economies such as the United States and European Union want the whole round of negotiations to end, so that measures benefiting poor countries are part of an overall package. "For the moment there is no mandated 'early harvest', contrary to previous negotiations in the past," WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy told Reuters in an interview.
"Least developed countries would wish this, other members for the moment have resisted this. So the situation as it is for the moment is benefits of the round for Least Developed Countries will occur at the conclusion of the round."
Leaders of the G20 rich and emerging countries have called for a conclusion of the Doha round next year, and negotiators are working hard in Geneva to close the gaps.
But Lamy told a meeting of LDC trade ministers on Friday that it would be hard to meet that deadline given the pace of talks. "My sense is that we still need to accelerate. We need to accelerate if we need this 2010 horizon to be met," he said.
"Developing countries are of the view, and this was re-expressed here by the LDCs, that this should be wrapped up as soon as possible."
Estimates of the value of an agreement, which would be phased over several years, vary. The most recent, by Washington's Peterson Institute for International Economics, says it could raise world GDP by $300-700 billion a year.
For developing countries, one of the critical components would be cuts in rich countries' subsidies for cotton that distort the market and hurt their farmers. They are pushing for bigger cuts in cotton subsidies than other farm products. This week LDC trade ministers urged other WTO members to set up a safety net for poor-country cotton producers to help them cope with losses caused by the economic crisis.
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