By DPA
Kuala Lumpur : World Trade Organisation (WTO) director-general Pascal Lamy said Friday that current trends in the Doha Round of trade talks assured poor and developing nations of having a greater say in trade deals.
“There will be no completion of the negotiations without poor and developing countries getting satisfaction in at least some of their demands,” Lamy said at a trade conference in Malaysia’s capital Kuala Lumpur.
In response to a question on how the imbalance of resources and negotiation power between developing countries and richer countries could be ironed out, Lamy gave an assurance that “a large part” of demands from poorer countries would be met.
“This is the direction,” he said. “Developing nations will get a large part of what they’re asking for in this negotiation,” he said.
Lamy admitted that while globalisation had enabled the breakdown of both trade and economic barriers, political and financial market instability as well as deterioration of energy resources and environment were its downside.
However, he stressed that imposing new trade restrictions was not a proactive way to combat the problems, and warned of the damage to a country’s economic standing.
“It is all too easy to allow the blame for lost jobs, economic insecurity and huge trade deficits to be placed, unchallenged, at the door of globalisation,” he said.
“More often than not, the real cause of the pain is not so much trade, but failure to accompany the efficiency gains of trade opening with other economic policies.”
Lamy said the WTO would continue to play its role as a central pillar of modern global economic governance to ensure fair trade, and expressed optimism that the completion of the Doha Round of talks would deliver on those expectations.
He urged the 151 member states to be dedicated to conclude the pact to liberalise trade between developed and developing countries.