WTO chief steps in to put talks on track

NEW DELHI: Last ditch efforts are being made at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to put the stalled trade talks back on track. Members have asked WTO director general Pascal Lamy to broker a compromise and finalise negotiating modalities ‘as soon as possible’, preferably before the end of the month.

Mr Lamy has been approached after trade ministers from key member countries failed to arrive at a deal on lowering agriculture subsidies and cutting tariffs in agriculture and industrial products at a mini-ministerial meet of the WTO organised in Geneva.

India will play an important role in helping Mr Lamy shape the modalities as it is part of the G-6, which also includes the EU, the US, Australia, Japan and Brazil, who are expected to give the WTO chief the main inputs for the text.

It is important that the negotiating modalities (which includes the formulae for subsidy and tariff reductions) are finalised before end-July as the EU would officially break for a long summer break in August and the US would soon go into a non-performing mode as the US Congress prepares for mid-term elections in November. Delaying an agreement on modalities beyond July would seriously jeopardise whatever chances are left of concluding the Doha round by ‘06-end.

According to an official press release issued by the WTO, members agreed that Mr Lamy should consult members intensively and widely in order to establish modalities urgently. Mr Lamy agreed that his role would be to ‘facilitate’ and act as a ‘catalyst’ and that members will remain the main actors, the release said. The director-general will report back to the members as soon as possible.

In an informal meeting of delegates in Geneva, Mr Lamy admitted that the negotiations are now in a crisis. “We are far from the necessary convergence to be able to establish modalities in agriculture and NAMA. This is serious, not only for the agriculture and industrial tariffs, but also obviously for the round as a whole if we want to conclude it by the end of this year,” Mr Lamy said.