ISLAMABAD, July 31: Smaller economies, like Pakistan, need an agreement at the WTO because it is the only international forum where we can negotiate on an even footing with any and all potential trading partners.

However, a few countries that were entrusted with great responsibility could not make even small concessions necessary to achieve a positive conclusion to the round.

The reaction came from Pakistan one day after the breakdown of the crucial WTO mini-ministerial talks in Geneva.

Ambassador Dr Manzoor Ahmad in the country statement, however, did not point out the countries responsible for showing no flexibility in their stance which led to the collapse of the round.

As lamentable as this ministerial may have been, “we need to reflect and learn from the missteps of the recurrent failures.”

The failure is like ‘snatching defeat from the jaws of victory’.

“In the past few days, we have alternated between soaring to new heights of common understanding and exploring the depths of a few narrowly defined interests. In short, we have wavered between success and failure,” the statement said.

“I am deeply saddened to be making my last intervention at the trade negotiations committee (TNC). Personally, I had always hoped for more, especially after spending the last five years negotiating these issues,” Dr Manzoor said.

During the last two or three years, “we kept on persisting with G4 or G7 and expected a different result.

We need to re-think the process if we are to get somewhere,” said.

Despite the current failure being a severe setback for the round, it could still be resuscitated if we change the process and give it some more time, he said and added “we should not rush for early harvests though it may seem very tempting.”

The Doha round was born out of the understanding that prosperity and opportunity should not only be the realm of select group of countries or people. In this round, not only did we have the potential to bridge a select set of economic interests, but more importantly, to bring the world closer together.

“We had the possibility of creating a more coherent and unified trading system for the world. However, our procrastination has not served us well. We have been witnessing proliferation of free trade agreements (FTA’s) without realizing the signals they were sending us about the weakening of the multilateral system and further marginalisation of the poorer countries,” he said.

Many small and vulnerable economies (SVEs), least developed countries (LDCs), and low income countries have given much to this round.

“Not only through their efforts to negotiate better conditions for their people, but even through the great burden of staffing and maintaining their operations in Geneva.

“Together, we have discussed and agreed on the vast majority of a Doha deal. Yet, somehow, our talks have been crippled by less than five per cent of the remaining issues,” he added.