The world's leading business organization today appealed to governments to restore momentum to the Doha trade round without delay.
Deciding how to negotiate improved market access for developing country agricultural products and reduce trade-distorting farm subsidies headed ICC's list of "vital steps" for success.
ICC said that governments should use the draft ministerial text tabled in September at the failed WTO conference in Cancun as a basis for reviving the trade negotiations.
In a paper handed to WTO member governments by ICC national committees around the world, ICC's Commission on Trade and Investment Policy set out its proposals for work during the lead-up to a key meeting of the General Council of the World Trade Organization on 15 December.
ICC said agreeing modalities for negotiations on improved market access for industrial products should be among the priorities. It called for greater attention to non-tariff barriers.
A third priority was to find a way to move forward the so-called Singapore issues - competition, investment, trade facilitation and transparency in government procurement - "on their own merit and at their own pace".
"ICC attaches strong importance to the inclusion of trade facilitation in the negotiations at the earliest possible date," the ICC said.
The international business group also urged WTO member governments to find a way to incorporate negotiations on transparency in government procurement in the Doha Agenda.
The WTO governments should abandon rhetoric and entrenched positions and "promptly return to the negotiating table in Geneva with constructive and practical proposals," ICC said.
Vital steps after Cancºn - Paper by the ICC Commission on Trade and Investment Policy