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WTO deal by next year a daunting task

Ex-WTO chief Moore warns

AFP, Kuala Lumpur
Former World Trade Organisation (WTO) chief Mike Moore on Wednesday described the revival of global free-trade talks as a "limp forward" and warned it may be tough to reach an agreement at the WTO conference in Hong Kong next year.
But Moore, who is also a former New Zealand prime minister, said there was an urgent need to accelerate negotiations on setting world trade rules that would stabilise the global economy and ensure poor nations were not left out of the race.
"We are a year behind, but it has progressed. The system limps forward. Hopefully we can conclude next year in Hong Kong but it's going to be very hard because the issues are too big," he told reporters on the sidelines of an Asian economic conference here.
A deal reached in Geneva earlier this month on the contentious subject of agriculture sets the stage for an overall agreement to conclude the Doha Round of global trade rules that
would expand multilateral trade liberalisation.
Moore said a WTO agreement would "give Africa up to five times more income than all the overseas development assistance put together."
"The stakes are enormous. The World Bank suggests that if we do the whole deal, it's worth about three trillion in terms of added growth to the world economy, just like putting another China into the world economy and we need this," he said.
"The other urgency is that regional or bilateral deals are cutting out smaller economies."
But he acknowledged it would require massive "political will and the ability to see beyond the resistance the vested groups enjoy" to get a successful negotiation.
"The protected expensive parts of the economies have got to go. You cannot pay twice as much for your sugar in the US or Europe when you can get cheaper sugar out of Africa or the Caribbean. It is difficult for governments because the vested sectors will
fight," he said.
Moore warned that keeping good governance rules out of the new round -- such as those on public procurement, investment and competition adopted at a WTO ministerial conference in Singapore in 1998 -- could also slow down negotiations.
Wealthy countries agreed to retain only the issue of trade facilitation but set aside the other three themes agreed in Singapore.
"I am a little disappointed that they didn't agree on some of the Singapore issues," he said.
"WTO agreements can serve as a sort of outside peg to drive up domestic reforms. Barriers between developing countries are huge, there's no reason why they can't start cutting now. Trade facilitation, good governance and anti-corruption rules are useful to put this in place."
Moore said such issues must move in parallel with measures to cut subsidies and reduce barriers to the multibillion-dollar global trade in agricultural products.