Doha Round failure will be a big blow,says Lamy

In a strong statement,WTO director general Pascal Lamy said if the Doha round in the WTO fails,it would be a big blow to the global trade body.

In a strong statement,WTO director general Pascal Lamy on Friday said if the Doha round in the WTO fails,it would be a big blow to the global trade body that oversees multiple trade related matters.. It (failure of Doha Round) would weaken the only institution which governs the rules of world trade and has the ability to adjudicate in the event of disputes between countries, Lamy said at a conference on WTO organised by Ficci in New Delhi.

On a more optimistic note however,Lamy added that at the recently-concluded G20 summit in Seoul,world leaders had given strong signals of political resolve to break the logjam. They sent strong signals of political resolve to conclude the Doha Development Round. Leaders recognised the 2011 window of opportunity to achieve this goal, he said.

Lamy also acknowledged the contribution of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and commerce minister Anand Sharma for re-invigorating the dialogue process. In September 2009,India hosted a mini-ministerial in the capital to re-start the talks on the resolving the Doha round.

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WTO members are now working to translate this political will into the negotiations in Geneva…This process must now intensify in order to walk the talk. Lashing out against protectionist measures,he said that such measures were counter productive to trade and any resolution for the coming out of the slowdown.

Addressing them through trade restricting measures will not work. Worse,it will trigger tit-for-tat protectionism, Lamy said. He explained that economic crises do create problems at home and give rise to proponents of unilateralist and populist measures thereby discriminating against foreign workers.

Some may call us naïve,or even idealists. But the lessons of history are there: they show us that it is coordinated action through international cooperation that maximises benefits for citizens of the world, he said.

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