Breakthrough in global trade talks 'a matter of months'

Negotiations to conclude the Doha round of global trade talks are again under way, and a breakthrough may be made in the coming months, World Trade Organisation chief Pascal Lamy said in the Philippines today.

“After a period of suspension, negotiating engines are buzzing again,” Mr Lamy said in a speech to members of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry in the capital Manila.

“With additional effort on agriculture, a conclusion is doable ... (to) open the last stages of talks. When? My own sense is that it is a question of months, not quarters,” he said.

After Mr Lamy’s speech, a handful of anti-globalization protesters forced their way into the hotel ballroom where the forum was being held and chanted “Pascal Lamy get out, get out”. Hotel security eventually removed the protesters.

Mr Lamy is in Manila as part of a two-country tour to spur major WTO members toward concluding the Doha round this year. He was in Jakarta, Indonesia, on Wednesday.

Lamy said the main issues were agricultural subsidies and tariffs, industrial tariffs, and trade and services.

“All parties need to make a greater contribution, starting with agriculture ... if we are to reach a result, all members have to move,” he said.