Lamy ready to call Ministers back to Geneva
16 Sep 2008
WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy, in a statement at UNCTAD on 16 September 2008, said that “depending on progress made by the negotiators, I am ready to call Ministers to Geneva to try and close the issues which remain open”. “The reasons why we must conclude the Round are becoming more critical by the day as the economic and financial outlook continues to deteriorate”. This is what he said:
Mr Chairman,
Ladies and Gentlemen
I would have preferred to speak at today's Session on the “Evolution of the International Trading System” about the agreement reached to establish agriculture and industrial modalities towards a final deal of the Doha negotiations, but I cannot.
Instead I will tell you just how much we stand to lose if we do not carry on with the very hard and arduous work of concluding the Doha Round. I am convinced that a deal is still possible. I still believe that with yet another push we could still reach our target. This belief is not obstinacy. It is based on a hard look at what is on the table and what remains to be done.
While we have not yet been able to come up with modalities, I must say that during the period in which Ministers were present in Geneva in July, they managed to fill many of the gaps existing on thorny issues which had remained intractable for years.
Although we are not quite there in terms of an agreement, we have moved a long way. I believe it is in all members' interests, big and small, to reach an agreement, and to do so sooner rather than later. As many of you know, I have always been and continue to be a strong believer in the multilateral trading system.
I consider a freer and fairer trading system an important contribution for least-developed and developing countries to pursue their development objectives, and especially the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals.
Recognition by developing countries themselves of the importance that trade can play in their economic development has been demonstrated by a rise in the number of developing countries that are now members of the WTO, with the most recent addition being Cape Verde, but also by the far reaching reforms that these countries have taken to reach out to new markets and diversify their economies.
Many have been able to realize huge benefits from increased commodity exports. But, as this year's Trade and Development Board report points out, it is exactly now that many of those same countries could use their trade surpluses to start focusing their investments on efforts to diversify their economies and to “create the incentives for a sustained industrialization based on new investment in new productive capacities”. Such efforts would do much to reduce their dependency on only a few commodities.
Read the Entire Speech...
Source: WTO
Ladies and Gentlemen
I would have preferred to speak at today's Session on the “Evolution of the International Trading System” about the agreement reached to establish agriculture and industrial modalities towards a final deal of the Doha negotiations, but I cannot.
Instead I will tell you just how much we stand to lose if we do not carry on with the very hard and arduous work of concluding the Doha Round. I am convinced that a deal is still possible. I still believe that with yet another push we could still reach our target. This belief is not obstinacy. It is based on a hard look at what is on the table and what remains to be done.
While we have not yet been able to come up with modalities, I must say that during the period in which Ministers were present in Geneva in July, they managed to fill many of the gaps existing on thorny issues which had remained intractable for years.
Although we are not quite there in terms of an agreement, we have moved a long way. I believe it is in all members' interests, big and small, to reach an agreement, and to do so sooner rather than later. As many of you know, I have always been and continue to be a strong believer in the multilateral trading system.
I consider a freer and fairer trading system an important contribution for least-developed and developing countries to pursue their development objectives, and especially the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals.
Recognition by developing countries themselves of the importance that trade can play in their economic development has been demonstrated by a rise in the number of developing countries that are now members of the WTO, with the most recent addition being Cape Verde, but also by the far reaching reforms that these countries have taken to reach out to new markets and diversify their economies.
Many have been able to realize huge benefits from increased commodity exports. But, as this year's Trade and Development Board report points out, it is exactly now that many of those same countries could use their trade surpluses to start focusing their investments on efforts to diversify their economies and to “create the incentives for a sustained industrialization based on new investment in new productive capacities”. Such efforts would do much to reduce their dependency on only a few commodities.
Read the Entire Speech...
Source: WTO
