Business Daily (Nairobi)
Pascal Lamy
22 May 2008
opinion
If we are to meet the collective target we have of concluding the Doha Round by the end of 2008, we have only a few weeks, not months or semesters, in which to establish modalities.
This is a tight schedule, but it is still doable. And I firmly believe this is doable within the procedures and principles that guide the work in the World Trade Organisation.
There is no choice to be made between substance and timing. Today I believe it is fair to say that we have come a long way in breaching differences on substance. Putting the modalities in place very soon, therefore, is the only way to achieve our end of year target, since it would leave us just enough time for scheduling in Agriculture and NAMA and to wrap up the negotiations in the other areas.
And this is what many Members have recently confirmed to me. The reasons why we must conclude the Round this year are visible to all of us and they are becoming more critical by the day.
We have witnessed an unprecedented escalation in food prices world wide which has had negative effects particularly on developing countries that depend on imports for their food security or are net food buyers.
The result, as we have seen, has been unrest linked to these high food prices in a number of your countries. Although the WTO cannot provide anything immediate to help solve the current crisis, it can, through the Doha Round negotiations, provide medium to long term solutions.
This appeared clearly in various meetings I have attended, whether at the UNCTAD XII meeting in Accra, or at the recent UN Chief Executives Board (CEB) where we worked with the UN Secretary- General and Heads of other international organisations and bodies to address the various facets of this crisis.
Tackling distortions
Alongside other efforts by governments and international organisations, a WTO deal could help soften the impact of high prices by tackling the systemic distortions in the international market for food.
We all aim to substantially lower barriers to trade in agricultural products and diminish levels of trade distorting subsidies, particularly in developed countries that have hampered food production and investment in agriculture in many developing countries.
This is doable and we are nearly there. As you are all aware, the overall outcome would be less distortion in world markets and increased international trade, leading to more rapid and efficient adjustment by supply to changes in demand.
The WTO can provide part of the solution. Which is why it can, and must play, its full part in this vital effort. For this reason, and it is a compelling one for you all, the conclusion of the Doha Round is more urgent today than it was yesterday.
Lamy is the director-general of WTO.
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