Leaders Expressed Opinions Over The Restart Of Global Trade Talks

By: Vasily A. Klimko
Submitted: 2007-01-17 16:25:21
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Pascal Lamy, the director general of the World Trade Organization (WTO), stated in an interview that the global trade agreement is a quantum leap onward for the international economy. Lamy recently made the said statement in a speech at a conference of global trade leaders in Northern Australia. The said meeting was attended by almost 19 nations including the United States. He also added that the suspension of the trade round was an unfortunate event.

The said WTO global trade talks was stalled on July wherein the mediation wavered because of misunderstandings over the agricultural industry. It must be noted that the United States wanted cuts and tariffs on the farm subsidies of Japan, EU, and India. But on the contrary, it declines the demands of other nations to reduce its subsidies. Economic leaders and finance ministers who attended the conference in Australia are going to devise a plan for the EU to reduce its subsidies for their farms by five percent. Aside from that, they will also discuss plans of cutting almost $5bn in the US farm subsidies.

Lamy also made an appeal to member nations of the WTO to advocate the political drive that is necessary in restarting of the delayed global trade rounds in Doha a couple of months ago. Moreover, Paul Wolfowitz, the president of the Word Bank stated that financial leaders and economic ministers alike should be open-minded to modern ideas, and should realized that even the parties of the said trade deal should make a compromise. He emphasized that US must accept support on farms, and the EU should minimize the hindrances that block access in their markets. Moreover, Wolfowitz added that developing nations like Japan and India must remove the trade barriers so the multilateral market will progress.

Meanwhile, Rodrigo de Rato, the managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said that the international economy may suffer in the absence of the settlement in the global trade. He said that the trade rounds can help stimulate prosperity and reduce poverty. Rato also stated that if ever a deal was not meet, the possibilities for economic growth will be lower. Rato met with several financial leaders in the IMF-World Bank annual conference in Singapore. Henry Paulson, the U.S. Secretary of Treasury said that the global inequalities are a threat to the growth of the international trade.

Rato also included in his speech the appeal of the IMF to China wherein he made an appeal for the Asian nation to strengthen its currency not only for the stability of the global trade but also for the growth of its own economy. He stated that the said nation must exercise its flexible exchange rate that it has given itself last year.

The said WTO global trade rounds in Doha were conceptualized to make nations agree on decreasing tariffs, subsidizing agricultural cuts, and promoting other measures to motivate the global trade. However, the proposition made by the attending nations descended back to their first endeavors. Member nations in the mentioned stalled conference rounds bickered over the tariffs and subsidies in agriculture and industrial products.

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