Simon Crean, Australian minister for trade ?who is in India to attend the informal WTO ministerial meeting ? said countries were in the end-game of trade negotiations but closing the Doha Round by 2010 would require political input. About 40 trade ministers are participating in the meeting that seeks to draw a roadmap for principal negotiators. Excerpts:
How do you see the US response to the Doha Round?
There is a very strong determination and commitment by the US to close the (Doha) round. All of us know that we have all got to narrow around.
What could be the trigger for conclusion or failure of the Doha round?
So far as the round is concerned, we are very close to its conclusion. We are now in the end-game of the Doha negotiations. Last July (when the talks collapsed) we got 80% there, 20% remains elusive. We are close (to the conclusion) but we are not there. What is crucial to the new political will for concluding Doha is the engagement of two key players?India and the United States.
There are separate negotiations on linking trade to climate change. How will those be synchronised with the WTO rules?
It seems to me that whatever comes out of Copenhagen (conference on climate change in December, 2009), they have to be WTO consistent. There can?t be another set of rules (linking trade to climate change issues) that are not WTO consistent. I think that some trade ministers have to get engaged in these negotiations. That is a clear area that we need to get involved into. We have to also recognise that climate change financing options will become crucial to developing countries for capacity building, adoption etc.
What about the bilateral cooperation between India and Australia?
Doha must come first as it provides a much more solid platform on which to advance. But we are also working together at the regional level where I believe we are pursuing a common cause.
What about the proposed free trade agreement between the two countries?
There is a joint Free Trade Agreement feasibility study ? which commenced in August 2007. We are in the final stages of concluding this feasibility study and I intend returning next month to India discuss the next steps, based on that conclusions of the study.
What are the gains to be achieved?
The Petersen Institute in Washington last month released a comprehensive study into the benefits of concluding Doha. It found that conclusion of the Doha Round could deliver as much as $ 300 billion to $ 700 billion per year GDP growth to the world economy. That is huge impact with great on-going benefits for all nations from greater trade flows.