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WTO’S LAST CHANCE TO FULFIL DEVELOPMENT AGENDA

Pascal Lamy

Oct 5 2005 (IPS) - The Hong Kong Ministerial Meeting, set for three months from now, is the WTO’s last and best chance to successfully conclude the Doha Development Round, the deadline for completion of which is already long past, writes Pascal Lamy, the new director-general of the World Trade Organisation.

In this article, Lamy writes that it is difficult to exaggerate the huge potential of this Round for contributing to global growth, correcting imbalances, and promoting development. The challenge is less technical than political. It is about leadership, compromise, countries recognising their common interest in success, and the collective costs of failure.

An issue of particular importance for a number of developing countries is cotton. Part of the problem lies in the WTO and will be addressed in the ongoing negotiations to improve market access and cut subsidies for agricultural products. But the results of these changes will not affect cotton prices overnight. In the meantime these countries need bilateral and multilateral donors to urgently focus their assistance on this problem.

/NOT FOR PUBLICATION IN AUSTRALIA, BRAZIL, CANADA, NEW ZEALAND, CZECH REPUBLIC, IRELAND, POLAND, THE UNITED STATES, AND THE UNITED KINGDOM/

 
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