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• Doha Failure Not An Option, Says Secretary-General

Doha Failure Not An Option, Says Secretary-General

27 July 2006

Suspension of WTO talks on the Doha Development Agenda an "alarming step towards their outright failure".

The suspension of the World Trade Organisation's talks on the Doha Development Agenda in Geneva on 24 July 2006 was an "alarming step towards their outright failure" said Commonwealth Secretary-General Don McKinnon in a statement released on 25 July.

He stated that: "Apportioning blame is a fruitless task; but asking who suffers from failed world trade talks (and the one-sided, protectionist, regional or bilateral trade agreements which emerge in their place) is not. If we really are global citizens, we must act as such. Economic success is a fine thing -- but when it comes despite or even at the expense of the world's poorest people, it is simply no thing at all."

World Trade Organisation Director-General Pascal Lamy suspended the multilateral trade talks, citing irreconcilable differences among major international players on 24 July. Mutual accusations characterised the collapse, with the European Union and the United States blaming each other for failure to reach an agreement on farm subsidies during two days of talks.

The failure of the talks comes as a blow especially for developing countries. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development estimates that halving trade tariffs and subsidies worldwide could contribute as much as US$44 billion to the global economy in higher incomes for producers and consumers.

The Secretary-General called on developed countries to demonstrate the political courage and will to give more than they receive in the Doha Development Round. He added that the 53 Commonwealth Heads of Government endorsed this at their summit meeting in Valletta, Malta, in November 2005.

"These were the sentiments supported by US Trade Negotiator Susan Schwab when I met her in May this year. They capture the spirit of last week's G8 Summit in St Petersburg, where G8 and leading G20 countries seemed to be of one mind. All seem to agree that trade is the most effective route out of poverty; all realise that for rich and poor countries alike longer term prosperity and security is dependent on trade that is as free as it is fair," stressed Mr McKinnon.

"I urge developed and developing countries -- the G8 and the G20 -- to allow poor countries the capacity to trade. I urge them to recapture the spirit of Valletta and of St Petersburg, and to agree to agree. The Doha Round cannot be allowed to fail in delivering a development dividend. 800 million Commonwealth citizens subsisting on less than $1 each day would countenance nothing less."