|
Revive
the Doha round, says business
 |
| The WTO General
Council meets on Monday |
Paris,
11 December 2003 - The International Chamber of Commerce today
urged governments to renew their commitment to a successful Doha trade
round at a key meeting of the World Trade Organization next week.
Commenting on the forthcoming meeting of the WTO General Council in Geneva
on Monday, ICC Secretary General Maria Livanos Cattaui said: "The
political will seems to be there. WTO governments know that they have
to restore momentum to the Doha round."
While the September
WTO ministerial conference in Cancun, Mexico was a setback, it was not
the end of the road. "Cancun should be seen as a springboard for
resolving the contentious issues that are holding up progress."
Ms Cattaui said: "Business
wants final agreement as soon as possible, but that does not mean that
governments should be obsessed with deadlines. The final package is what
matters, even if it takes somewhat longer than planned."
ICC has called on
WTO members to focus on the following priorities to relaunch the round:
- reaching agreement
on how to deal with neg
otiations on liberalizing trade in agriculture;
- reaching agreement
on how to deal with negotiations on market access for non-agricultural
products; and
- finding a way to
advance the so-called Singapore issues - competition, investment, trade
facilitation and transparency in government procurement - on their own
merit and at their own pace.
|