Clinching Doha round is both necessary and doable; WTO chief

New Delhi, Aug 18 (UNI) World Trade Organisation (WTO) chief Pascal Lamy has said completing the Doha round of global trade talks is not only technically possible, it is also a political must.

''Concluding the round will boost international trade and economic growth, and it will ensure that the WTO continues to play a key role in managing globalisation and economic cooperation on a political level,'' he said at Kuala Lumpur yesterday. Concluding this negotiation is both necessary and doable, he added.

He said fairer multilateral trade rules and building of trade capacity in developing countries is fundamental to clinching the ongoing Doha round of negotiations which began in 2001. One primary objective of the Doha Development Agenda (DDA) is to address the remaining imbalances in the WTO rules against developing countries, whether in agriculture, textiles or footwear.

All WTO members will have to make their contribution for the DDA to succeed, '' each one according to its own level of development,'' he added.

On debate between WTO or FTAs (Free Trade Agreements), Lamy said general agreement on trade and tariff (GATT), forerunner of WTO, and the World Trade Organisation have been one of the most successful examples ever of sustained international economic cooperation that has served the world so well.

This, he said, also continues to be the most cost-effective way to negotiate trade matters and get market access which can not be matched by any bilateral trade agreements. This is especially true for medium and small developing countries, who have much less negotiating power in bilateral negotiations with big partners than they do in a multilateral setting. Each of 151-member WTO has a vote.

He said key issues such as agricultural subsidies, anti-dumping, fisheries subsidies disciplines or customs procedures can not be addressed in bilateral agreements, but only in the WTO. Due to its inherent advantages, the multilateral trading system can be complemented but not replaced by FTAs, he added.

GATT, established 60 years ago, had only 23 signatory countries, whereas WTO today have 151 members. This, Lamy, said only proves that now '' almost all countries are involved in foreign trade, they trade much more, and at much lower costs.'' But still the WTO faces risks of trade protectionism and of multilateral versus bilateral trade opening, he said.

While highlighting by-products of globalisation such as scarcity of energy resources, environment degradation, migration provoked by insecurity, poverty and political instability or even financial markets volatility, Lamy, however, said raising trade restrictions is not the answer to these anxieties.

The challenge before WTO, Lamy said, is how to ensure that trade benefits all, how it is shared more fairly among nations and also to ensure a better distribution of its benefits within a nation. DDA is to address the remaining imbalances in the WTO rules against developing countries in agriculture, textiles and footwear. It is, therefore, necessary for all WTO members to contribute to the DDA for its success according to their respective level of development.

On better distribution trade benefits within a nation, the WTO director-general said trade opening can and does translate into greater growth and poverty alleviation but this is neither automatic nor immediate.

''Trade opening must be accompanied by a solid domestic agenda to spur on growth and cushion adjustment costs,'' he added.

He said a nation's trade policy can not be isolated from domestic macroeconomic, social or structural policies because same trade policy will result in different outcomes depending on the quality of economic policies of a particular country.

UNI