Business leaders call for resumption of world trade talks

WTO deal:European business chiefs yesterday demanded that big power trade negotiators, attending informal talks in Davos, engineer a quick and successful resumption of stalled global free trade negotiations.

Warning that time was running out, nearly 50 senior executives from companies such as BT Group, IBM and Unilever, said business and consumers worldwide would gain from a new World Trade Organisation (WTO) deal.

"Too much time has already been lost. European business urges all WTO member governments to make their contribution to revive the Doha round and conclude it successfully as soon as possible," the executives and organisations, including the Confederation of European Business, said in a statement.

The statement was timed for release as leaders and business chiefs met in the Swiss Alpine resort for the annual World Economic Forum, where trade is high on the agenda.

The WTO's Doha round, named after the Qatari capital where it was launched in 2001, was put on hold last July because of big differences, particularly over agricultural trade reform.

Hopes for a resumption have risen after the United States, the European Union and Brazil, amongst others, announced unspecified progress in bilateral discussions. More contacts were scheduled for Davos.

On Saturday, Switzerland will host ministerial talks, the first group gathering since July, to be attended by EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson, his US counterpart Susan Schwab and about two dozen ministers, including those from developing country powerhouses Brazil and India.

Ministers have played down the chance of a breakthrough at Davos. But they say the meeting could produce a call for an official renewal of the negotiations, which aim to lower barriers to business across the globe and lift millions out of poverty.

"We would have certainly laid out a process, set a roadmap to sit down at the table and start talking again," India's commerce and industry minister Kamal Nath said.

"I think by end of the year we should have a package. More and more countries feel the necessity (for a deal) . . . I am 60 per cent sure it would happen," he said.

WTO chief Pascal Lamy has warned that if talks do not start soon, the round could be on ice for years or fail altogether.

The United States and the European Union must give a clear sign they are willing to compromise on farm subsidies and tariffs, while leading developing states also need to show more readiness to open up their farm markets, diplomats say.

Although the negotiations cover a host of areas, including industrial tariffs, services and slashing commercial red tape, farm trade has long been the thorniest issue.

The business leaders said harmonising customs procedures - trade facilitation in WTO-speak - would alone bring savings of some €300 million a year to importers and exporters.

Lower tariffs would lift competitiveness and growth.

"Should governments allow all this to be lost because of disagreements over certain aspects of agricultural policy? Absolutely not," they said. "All WTO members, including (the) EU and (the) US, must make the necessary compromises." Bilateral or regional trade deals, which both Brussels and Washington have touted, were no substitute, they added.

Mandelson, who faces strong pressure from France and other major EU farm goods producing states not to give ground, welcomed the statement. "(It is) a very strong commitment from business leaders, (from) both sides of the Atlantic," he said in Davos.

French business leaders, in an apparent message to Paris, issued a statement saying they hoped that European ministers would help Mandelson to make the concessions needed for a deal. - (Reuters)