2011 is make or break year for Doha deal, says UK PM Cameron

H S Rao

London, Jan 29 (PTI) British Prime Minister David Camerontoday welcomed the interim findings of an expert group, set upto consider the actions needed to combat protectionism and toboost global trade, saying the "year 2011 is make or breakyear for Doha deal".

The report ''The Doha Round: Setting a deadline, defininga deal,'' published today, argues that for the Doha agreementto be a success the negotiations need to be concluded by theend of 2011.

The document makes the case for action to be taken now,arguing that substantive agreements need to be concluded bythe summer to achieve the 2011 deadline.

The experts'' report sets out four arguments forcompleting the Doha Round which it believes will benefit allcountries: An agreement would provide an insurance policyagainst future protectionism by consolidating the large amountof unilateral liberalisation that has occurred since theUruguay Round in the 1990s.

An agreement would result in reforms of farm trade bybinding subsidy levels in the developed world and eliminatingexport subsidies.

An agreement would present the most-ambitious package oftrade liberalisation and facilitation ever negotiatedmultilaterally, bring economic benefits of at least USD 360billion.

The failure to reach an agreement would undermine thecredibility of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and that ofmultilateralism more generally as a mechanism to addresstrade.

Speaking on why trade matters Cameron said: "Trade isthe biggest wealth creator we''ve ever known... And it''s thebiggest stimulus we can give (to) our economies right now.

A completed trade round could add USD 170 billion dollarsto the world economy".

On 2011 as the make or break year for Doha the PrimeMinister said: "We''ve been at this Doha round for far toolong. It''s frankly ridiculous that it has taken 10 years to dothis deal. We simply cannot spend another 10 years going roundin circles.

If we don''t get the deal done this year it is hard to seehow the Doha process can have any further credibility. If weenter 2012 still stuck on this, real leadership will mean aradical rethink of how we get this done."

"So I want to be the first leader to support your callfor urgent action...to agree the key elements of the Doha dealthis year. And I call on every world leader to join me.

We have got one last chance to get this right. 2011 isthe make or break year. So let''s agree that this is the yearwe will make the break-through. .