The failure by trade ministers from 30 countries to seal a deal on the world trade talks does not mean the end of the Doha Round of negotiations, which has been going on for more than seven years, World Trade Organisation director general Pascal Lamy said today.
The talks stalled because India and United States refused to budge on the issue of special safeguard mechanism (SSM). The mechanism comprises a set of norms that allow developing countries to raise tariffs temporarily in order to deal with import surges and price falls in farm products.
A WTO release today quoted Lamy, saying that the Doha Round talks will continue. “We will need to let the dust settle. It is probably difficult to look too far into the future at this point. WTO members will need to have a sober look at if and how they bring the pieces back together. “This is certainly not going to strengthen the multilateral trading system; it will not improve the system which has provided all its members an insurance policy against protectionism over the last 60 years.
According to Lamy, there was convergence on 18 of the “to-do list” of 20 topics. He acknowledged that there was no convergence on the issue of SSMs. While developing countries wanted a lower surge in farm imports to impose SSMs, developed countries wanted a higher value.
Lamy also added that had the talks been successfull, there would have been an annual saving of $ 130 billion in tariffs by the end of the implementation period of the Doha Round proposals.
“With developing countries contributing one third and benefiting from two thirds of the overall gains [this would be] a true development round … with a rebalancing of the rules of the trading system in favour of developing countries.” Lamy said in the release.