June 23, 2006
IN THIS ALERT:

  • Lamy: Draft Modalities Announce the Beginning of a Marathon
  • US-EU Summit Declaration Joint Statement Declares Support for Doha Round
  • Global Trade Opinion Poll Shows Deepening Pessimism on Doha Round Prospects
  • APEC Trade Ministers Statement on Doha Round
  • Global Services Coalition Mission to Geneva

Lamy: Draft Modalities Announce the Beginning of a Marathon

In an address to the Inter-Parliamentary Union's Conference on the WTO in Geneva on June 22, WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy said that next week is "a crucial moment for the negotiations" with a number of ministers aiming to narrow differences in industrial and agricultural goods. "A failure of the Doha Round would be first and foremost a loss for the developing world," he said.  "We have now a once in a generation opportunity to correct imbalances in multilateral trade. I ask that we not waste it." For a copy of Director-General Lamy’s speech, click here.  

 

US-EU Summit Declaration Joint Statement Declares Support for Doha Round

In a joint statement issued by the United States and the European Union at their June 21 Summit, both sides reaffirmed their commitment to conclude the Doha Round by the end of this year.  They also encouraged negotiators to “demonstrate the political will and courage necessary” to reach agreement, and noted that “We recognize the need for trade ministers to make substantial progress on core negotiating areas over the next few weeks in order to ensure that this historic opportunity to liberalize trade is not missed.”  

In a press availability afterward, US President George Bush said that "A failed WTO round would be missed opportunity, particularly to help people...who are impoverished. The best way to help lift people out of poverty is trade...if you're really interested in development, the best way to do it is to have a successful round at the WTO."

 

For a copy of the EU-US statement, click here.

For a transcript of the press availability, click here.    

 

Global Trade Opinion Poll Shows Deepening Pessimism on Doha Round Prospects

In a recent poll of trade negotiators, officials and specialists conducted by the Institute for International Business, Economics & Law (IIBE&L), 71% of all respondents said it is unlikely that it will be possible to conclude the Doha Round in 2006.  This is up from 63% of respondents who held this view in January, and it is a view that is more or less evenly shared by capitals- and Geneva-based survey participants.  In the same survey, 79% of all respondents said that only a minority of WTO Members are likely to submit a second round of revised services offers by the target date of July 31.  Almost 60% of respondents indicated doubt that the plurilateral services negotiations could achieve "critical mass." 


For more information, contact Andrew L. Stoler, Executive Director, IIBE&L, at andrew.stoler@adelaide.edu.au.

 

APEC Trade Ministers Statement on Doha Round   

In a June 2 joint statement, Trade Ministers from the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum re-affirmed their commitment to the multilateral trading system and to a successful conclusion to the Doha Round by the end of this year.  The Trade Ministers’ statement said that "Our Leaders agreed last November that breaking the impasse in the agriculture negotiations, in particular market access, will unblock the key areas, including non-agricultural products and services. This is still the case. Urgent action is needed to drive the process of reaching agreement on agriculture and NAMA modalities by the end of June."  For a copy of the statement, click here.

Global Services Coalition Mission to Geneva, July 11-13 

The Global Services Coalition is organizing a mission to the WTO in Geneva on July 11-13, during the last services negotiations “cluster” before the second round of revised services offers are due on July 31.  The purpose of the mission is to press for an ambitious and commercially meaningful outcome to the services negotiations.  The delegation will include services associations and companies from Brazil, Canada, EU, Hong Kong, India, US, and elsewhere.  For more information, contact John Goyer at goyer@uscsi.org.