WTO’s Lamy warns about bilateral deals
The Associated Press | Oct. 17, 2006
WTO’s Lamy Warns About Bilateral Deals
BRUSSELS, Belgium — Poor nations will lose out if major global trade players opt for bilateral deals instead of working toward a global trade pact, WTO director general Pascal Lamy said Tuesday.
"Most (WTO nations) cannot afford to ride two horses," Lamy told a conference organized by UNICE, a major EU business lobby, warning that spending time negotiating bilateral deals can hurt the current push towards a global WTO agreement.
"All efforts (should be) on getting a multilateral deal. In the case of a failure, the poorest will be hit the hardest," Lamy said.
The EU and India last week agreed to push ahead with negotiations next year for a bilateral deal. The EU also is looking for free trade deals with South Korea, Russia and nations in South America and the Middle East to keep trade links open if a WTO deal proves impossible in the short term.
EU Trade Commission Peter Mandelson insisted the EU was not the only one involved in talks on bilateral agreements, saying the United States was negotiating about 14 such deals.
But Lamy said most developing countries have more problems with issues that needed to be tackled at WTO level, rather than bilaterally.
"Most developing countries have more problems with subsidies, with anti-dumping than they have with tariffs. These are systemic issues," he said.
Talks on a new WTO deal have stalled in July over a dispute on farm subsidies, amid accusations of self-interest by the major players. Only an ambitious WTO pact can guarantee a real opening of global trade that can drag poor countries out of poverty.
Mandelson said the draft deal on the table in July was "not the highest level of ambition, but reasonable," and criticized the United States for blocking an agreement on farm subsidies.
Lamy and EU officials reiterated no headway in the negotiations is expected before the U.S. legislative elections in November.
"After that we will try to inject fresh dynamism by the early months of next year. Otherwise, short delays may turn into long ones," said EU Agriculture Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel.
