GENEVA, July 25: World Trade Organization director-general Supachai Panitchpakdi on Friday announced a sharp increase in the pace of ailing trade liberalisation talks ahead of a key mid-term meeting in Cancun, Mexico in September.
Supachai said he was organising daily meetings for heads of delegations from the 146 WTO member states here from August 11, after a shortened summer recess, in an attempt
to break the deadlock ahead of the meeting of ministers in Mexico.
Each morning gathering would deal with a key issue, starting with agriculture.
“Our plan is to try to set up as much detailed option for the ministers as possible, and to be able to resolve some areas, so that at Cancun the ministers will have a manageable agenda to work on,” Supachai told journalists.
Trading nations are looking to the WTO ministerial meeting at Cancun on September 10 to 14 to revive the Doha development round of trade talks, which have stalled notably on the issue of removing barriers to the global farm trade.
The overall deadline for completion of Doha is end-2004.
Carlos Perez del Castillo, the Uruguayan diplomat spearheading the talks, said a final draft for Cancun should be ready by August 22, and would be sent out to capitals after it is approved by the WTO’s ruling General Council on August 26.
In the meantime, the WTO is pinning its hopes on an informal “mini-ministerial” meeting of about 26 countries in Montreal starting on Monday.
“We can only move forward if we can see real definite signs for the delegations here to move, and mainly from the key delegations that will have to take a leadership role,” Supachai said.
The WTO chief echoed calls from several diplomats here in recent days who said they needed stronger guidance from their political leaders at home.
Many diplomats complained that each country or trade bloc was waiting for another to make the first move in making concessions on key issues such as liberalising agriculture.
Commenting on Montreal, Perez del Castillo said: “I expect signals for possible movement and signals for possible trade-offs.”
But Supachai also warned that the gathering in Montreal was an informal stock-taking exercise for a limited number of ministers, and would not replace the final drive during August in Geneva.—AFP
