Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-09-25-Speech-2-306"
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"en.20070925.33.2-306"2
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"It is a normal Nordic approach: rather short but straight to the point.
But the clock is ticking. If there is no agreement on modalities in the autumn, an early conclusion of the DDA becomes very unlikely. The United States presidential campaign will pick up speed and the round might then be put into the deep freeze for years.
For the round to succeed now, all parties need to show flexibility and willingness to reach a compromise. The European Union will continue to reach out to the various constituencies of the WTO membership and their key members to ensure their constructive engagement.
I can clearly say that the next two months will be crucial for the Doha Development Round. Negotiations have now re-started on the basis of the proposals that were submitted in July by the chairs of the respective negotiating groups on agriculture and on industrial products.
The chairs, in producing their negotiation proposal, have done an honest job. I think we can say that they have distributed the pain fairly. They put pressure on each of the key players on each issue of the so-called negotiation triangle – AMA, NAMA and domestic subsidies – which is most sensitive for the different players.
It is obvious as well that the text of the chairs is not cast in stone. The WTO membership had a chance to offer preliminary reactions to these texts before the summer break.
But now negotiations really have to get down to specifics. A further round of discussions on modalities kicked off at the very beginning of September, taking place in Geneva. The objective of the WTO Director-General, Pascal Lamy, and the chairs is to be in a position to issue a revised paper some time in October to serve as an ultimate basis for a final deal on modalities, to take place no later than this autumn. Whether this will be the case, whether there will be a final paper, depends entirely on the negotiating engagement of the different players.
The United States should now translate President Bush’s political commitment at the APEC Summit into concrete negotiating moves to try to clinch a deal. It is imperative for the United States to be seen to engage and to move on agricultural subsidies, not least in respect of its objective to ensure access to the developing countries’ agricultural markets.
Brazil, India and, by the same token, other emerging economies have to move in the right direction and deliver their side of the bargain, and that means cutting, to some extent, their actual tariffs on industrial products.
The reality of these talks is that the distance to the finishing line – if we talk in economic terms – is fairly short at this stage, certainly very short compared to the road that we have been travelling until now.
The value of remaining concessions that both developed and some developing countries need to bring into the final package is small compared to the systemic gain of doing the deal, especially as global economic conditions are becoming more and more uncertain."@en1
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