AUSTRALIAN Industry Group Chief Executive Heather Ridout has urged Trade Ministers meeting at the World Trade Organisation next week to push for a breakthrough in the seven-year long Doha Round of multilateral trade negotiations.
“With the important looming national elections in some countries, next week’s Ministerial talks commencing on 21 July are critical if a Round is to be completed this year,” Ridout said.
“The draft text for Non-Agricultural Market Access (NAMA) tabled earlier this month, still falls short of delivering the tariff reductions applying to industrial products entering the major developing countries that are necessary for the Round to deliver significant trade liberalisation.
“This is compounded with the continuing stalemate on agricultural market access that has characterised the Round to date.”
According to Ridout, there needs to be a balance between the ambition to wrap up the Round and the critical need to have an outcome that makes a substantial contribution to the important task of liberalising global trade.
“The calling of next week’s Ministerial meeting indicates that there is a strong and widespread commitment on the part of the world’s key trading economies to address the outstanding issues that block a successful conclusion to the Round.
“Ai Group hopes that these circumstances result in a successful outcome which would deliver substantial benefits to both developed and developing economies,” she said.