WTO issues blueprint for Geneva trade discussions

Geneva: World Trade Organisation (WTO) mediators have circulated new negotiating texts that will serve as the blueprint for an outline deal in the WTO's long-running Doha round, trade officials said.

They will form the basis for discussions when ministers meet in Geneva in the week of July 21 to try to agree the outlines of a Doha deal, named for negotiations launched in the Qatari capital in November 2001 to free up world trade.

"These revised texts set the stage for a decisive moment in the Doha round," WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy said.

"A deal to open trade in agriculture and goods means more growth, better prospects for development and a more stable and predictable trading system. We must not let this opportunity slip through our fingers," he said.

Lamy, a former European Union trade chief, called the make-or-break meeting, which is the last opportunity to reach a deal before change in the US administration in January 2009 that could see the talks put on ice for years.

In Brussels, the European Commission said on Thursday it welcomed positive steps made in the new negotiating texts but said that "important gaps" still needed to be bridged.

Balanced agreement

"We are committed to this negotiation, but we need serious efforts from our negotiating partners to reach a balanced agreement," a spokesman for European Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson said.

In Washington, US trade representative spokeswoman Gretchen Hamel said that the Bush administration would be reviewing the texts in coming days.

But the US said it was time leading developing countries made market-opening offers "commensurate with their increasing participation and role in the world economy."

Both mediators, New Zealand's WTO ambassador Crawford Falconer for agriculture, and Canadian ambassador Don Stephenson for industry, told reporters they hoped to narrow the gaps further next week before ministers arrive.

Falconer said he was confident agreement could be reached reconciling the interests of tropical product exporters in Latin America with less developed growers in African, Caribbean and Pacific countries seeking to maintain their preferential access to the European Union.

Brazil, one of the world's leading agricultural producers and a major player in the trade talks, voiced misgivings about the new texts.

"The WTO papers will only produce a deal if the rich countries improve their offer, showing leadership and reducing trade barriers," said Roberto Azevedo, Brazil's chief trade negotiator.