Lamy seeks speedy conclusion of global talks

from The Kenya Times

By ISAIAH OPIYO

The recently revived global trade talks need to be concluded quickly if they are to succeed, World Trade Organization chief Pascal Lamy cautioned last week, saying a window of opportunity for the beleaguered talks would close at the end of June.

Speaking to delegates at a seminar in the Indian Capital aimed at finding solutions to the impasse between developed and developing countries, the WTO boss noted that negotiations were taking place at too slow a pace and many WTO members were becoming impatient.

The so-called Doha round of talks, started five years ago in Qatar’s capital, collapsed acrimoniously last July because of wrangling between rich nations, like the United States and the European Union, and poor countries, led by India and Brazil, over eliminating farm trade barriers.

Lamy warned that the talks, revived in January at the World Economic Forum meetings in Davos must speed up to grasp this window of openness that expires by the end of June.

The U.S. Trade Promotion Authority, which gives U.S. President George W. Bush the authority to make trade deals that can be sent to the U.S. Congress for a simple yes-or-no vote, expires at the end of June.

Bush is seeking the renewal of the “fast track” power, but faces an uphill battle in Congress, especially if there are no signs of progress on the Doha talks. Without the authority, it will be much harder for any treaty to gain congressional approval in the U.S.

Lamy said that the cost of a failure to strike a deal would be absolutely huge since some progress had been made in recent bilateral meetings and four-way talks between the U.S., EU, Brazil and India.

He reaffirmed that the U.S. had to accept more on subsidy reduction while the E.U. to accept more on tariff reduction with developing countries like India giving more market access. All these had been agreed on and it was only determination of the amount that was still discussion.

Indian Commerce Minister Kamal Nath, also present at the same seminar, said that to ensure global trade flourishes, rich nations need to ensure that developing economies, particularly in Asia and Africa, continue to grow.

Meanwhile, most UN member states fail to live up to promises of increased international aid and funding for hunger emergencies. Over 150 governments have ratified the Kyoto Protocol on global warming, but some major greenhouse gas emitters like the United States have not, thereby rapidly accelerating the global climate crisis.

Many NGOs call for reform of the global economic system, including debt relief, international aid, and global taxes that can fund development while at the same time curbing carbon emissions or stabilizing the global financial system.

Amidst the Kenya government’s commitment to liaise with some of the regional and global organizations such as the East African Community, COMESA, WTO, ACP/EC and EPZ, there has been increased opportunities and challenges that have not successfully bore economic fruits to the expectation of alleviating poverty and realizing better living standards.

The Trade and Industry minister, Dr Mukhisa Kituyi alludes to the fact that the world trade liberalization by global organizations does not benefit the poor in any way as living standards continue to decline to the extent of about 60 per cent of the population live below the poverty line.

He affirms that the declining donor aid, insufficiency in the country’s exports, low productivity, of labour and reliance on narrow range of products destined to few markets has highly contributed to the state of affairs in the country.

There is therefore dire need for the East Africa community to integrate strongly as the European Union for the purposes of establishing a strong economic base in order to avoid the usual begging of aid to develop our countries. Meanwhile, most UN member states fail to live up to promises of increased international aid and funding for hunger emergencies.