EU/WTO: LAMY SAYS POOR NATIONS CAN WIN WITHOUT TARIFF CUTS

摘要

European Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy appealed to the world's poorest nations on May 4 to throw their weight behind the struggling Doha Round of World Trade Organisation talks, saying they could benefit without even committing themselves to difficult tariff cuts. However, in his speech in Dakar, Senegal, Mr Lamy also conceded that the Doha Round was in serious trouble and would fail to meet its end-of-year target for completion. His comments came just days after he, US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick and other key trade officials committed themselves at an informal meeting in London on April 30-May 1 to reach their immediate goal of agreeing a blueprint for the negotiations on the Doha Round by July. This would complete much of the work theyhad hoped to achieve when they met in Cancun, Mexico, last September. Mr Lamy, Mr Zoellick and other Trade Ministers will meet in Geneva on July 29 and July 30 in an effort to agree on the framework for an eventual agreement.