Vol.8 No.5-7
May-July 2006
   
Trade Talks Suspended
General Council : Summary (27-28 July 2006)
   

 

The General Council of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), at its meeting on 27-28 July 2006, supported a recommendation by Director-General Pascal Lamy to suspend the Doha negotiations. The Director-General, as chairman of the Trade Negotiations Committee, reported on his consultations to facilitate and catalyze an agreement among Members. In his report, he said that there were no significant changes in the negotiators' positions and the gaps remained too wide. Faced with this situation, the Director-General recommended that the only course of action available was to suspend the negotiations across the Round as a whole to enable serious reflection by participants, which was clearly necessary. In their statements, members agreed with this assessment and endorsed the Director-General's recommendation. They agreed that a time of reflection was needed but they also expressed the hope that this “time-out” would be temporary and short since there was a need to put the negotiations back on track as soon as possible.

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
       
   
IN THIS ISSUE
  
 
Trade Talks Suspended : Who said what
1
  Trade Inequities Unacceptable
4
 
  Redeem the Development Promise Of Doha : Article by Kamal Nath
6
 
  Farmers interests not negotiable
15
 
  G-20 Ministerial Statement
20
 
  Nama 11 Ministerial Communique
24
 
  Kamal Nath's letter to Trade Ministers
25
 
  Joint Statement by U.S. Trade Representative
27
 
  Patents (amendment) Rules Notified
28
 
  Schedule of Meetings at WTO/GENEVA
32
 
 
WHO SAID WHAT
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
KAMAL NATH
 
Commerce and Industry Minister
  “Round not dead but it's definitely between intensive care and the crematorium”  
 
”This is a Development Round. Completing it is extremely important but equally important is the content of the Round. The content has to demonstrate new opportunities for developing countries, primarily market access of developing countries into markets of developed countries. This Round is not for perpetuating the flaws in global trade especially in agriculture, it’s not to open markets in developing countries in order for developed countries to have access for their subsidized products to developing countries. The Round is not dead, it’s definitely between intensive care and the crematorium.”
  
 
Celso Amorim
  
 
Brazilian Foreign Minister
  
 
“This is a sad moment which shouldn’t be new for someone who had gone through many setbacks and crises for example in Brussels (during the Uruguay Round), Seattle and Cancun. But this moment was even more sad for several reasons. For the first time, we are in a Development Round, which was important for developing countries. Unlike Seattle or Brussels, we were very close to agreement. Trade negotiations are too serious to be left to trade negotiators alone. Brazil had been ready to show flexibility at the G6 meeting but there was no moment to test if Brazil was flexible. I won’t want to find culprits but one has to recognize that the area we were lagging behind was domestic support. If leadership was shown on domestic support, there was a strong possibility everything would fall into place (with one or two points here and there).”
  
 
Peter Mandelson
EU Trade Commissioner
  
 
”There is profound disappointment and sadness that the world trade talks are having to be suspended today. This is neither desirable nor inevitable. It could so easily have been avoided. What stands between us and the modalities of an agreement are not vast numbers or enormous sums. Having been mandated by heads of government at the G8 to come together to indicate further flexibility, I felt that each of us did, except the United States. The US was unwilling to accept, or indeed to acknowledge, the flexibility being shown by others in the room and, as a result, felt unable to show any flexibility on the issue of farm subsidies. In deciding to withhold any indication of future flexibility, the US has judged that it would be better for the process of negotiation to be discontinued at this stage.”
  
 
Susan Schwab
United States Trade Representative
  
 
“The US came to Geneva with flexibility to offer more on domestic support and market access. The promises of flexibility and market access coming from St Petersburg did not materialize in Geneva. Unless we figure out how to move forward from here, we will have missed a unique opportunity to help developing countries and spur economic growth. But that does not mean that the US is giving up. ’Doha lite’ has never been an option for the US. There was no package on the table yesterday that we could have recommended to the President or the US Congress.”