The new Director-General of the World Trade Organization, Roberto Azevedo (left) of Brazil, arrives with Brazilian Foreign Minister Luiz Alberto at WTO headquarters in Geneva yesterday.
GENEVA: Negotiators must inject new life into stalled global trade talks within weeks or risk seeing the world slide down the road to protectionism, the new leader of the WTO warned yesterday.
Brazilian Roberto Azevedo, in his debut address to the World Trade Organisation’s (WT) 159 member-economies, urged them to break the deadlock ahead of a crunch summit in Bali in December.
“It is clear the system is in trouble,” Azevedo said at the WTO’s Geneva headquarters.
Trading nations have been at odds for years over how to cut barriers to commerce, leaving WTO-brokered talks moribund.
“The perception of the world is that we have forgotten how to negotiate. The perception is paralysis. It is essential that we breathe new life into the negotiating process. That’s why success at the Bali ministerial conference is vital,” Azevedo said.
“While the benefits of success would be great, the consequences of failure would be even greater. The future of the multilateral trading system is at stake.”
Azevedo told reporters that the globe could reap huge benefits from a wide-ranging trade deal, potentially adding several hundred billion dollars, or even over a trillion dollars, to the annual sum of global commerce.
That would represent a crucial boost in tough times.
The WTO estimates that world trade will grow by 2.5 percent this year, rather than the previously-forecast 3.3 percent, and by 4.5 percent in 2014 rather than 5.0 percent, due largely to a sluggish European Union recovery.
Trade growth was 2.0 percent in 2012, down from 5.2 percent in 2011.
Members of the WTO, which sets the rules of global commerce, launched their “Doha Round” talks at a summit in Qatar in 2001.
The goal was to craft a WTO-wide accord on opening markets and removing trade hurdles such as subsidies, excessive taxes and red tape, and harness global commerce to develop poorer economies.
But after early high hopes, the talks stalled amid clashes over the necessary give and take, notably between China, the EU, India and the United States.
“The world will not wait for the WTO indefinitely. It will move on and will move on with choices that will not be as efficient or as inclusive,” warned Azevedo.
“The intermission is over,” he said. “The stakes couldn’t be higher. We have to deliver.”
Amid the Doha logjam, many countries have focussed on bilateral and regional deals, which by definition leave other WTO members out in the cold.
The EU and United States are exploring a free trade deal, as is the United States with 12 Pacific countries.
The financial crisis has meanwhile renewed calls for protectionism, running counter to the WTO’s aim of a level playing field.
“Today, protectionism is much more sophisticated than it was before. A lot of restrictive measures take shapes which are more difficult to detect,” Azevedo told reporters.
“Negotiating deals. If you want to fight protectionism, that’s what you do. There’s no other way. It’s not going to go away if members don’t negotiate disciplines that will take care of it,” he added.
Azevedo’s election in May underlined the growing diplomatic clout of Brazil and other emerging economic powers. Seasoned negotiator Azevedo is a trade insider, having served as Brazil’s WTO ambassador since 2008.
He took the helm on September 1 from former EU trade chief Pascal Lamy, a Frenchman, who was in charge for eight years.
AFP
