The WTO chief urged members yesterday to resist protectionist pressure in the wake of the economic crisis, but said hopes of an early deal to free up international commerce are uncertain.
“In February this year, the global economic downturn was peaking,” WTO Director General Pascal Lamy told a forum.
“Less than a year on, progress has been made, but we are not yet out of the woods,” he said.
Lamy, in a speech and comments at a press conference, said the volume of world trade this year would shrink by slightly more than 10 percent, “which is unprecedented in modern times.”
In this environment, he said, “pressure for protectionist actions … with their illusory gains for the domestic economy, will not necessarily diminish any time soon.”
Lamy said success in completing the Doha round of trade talks next year as scheduled was vital to signal business and consumer confidence, and would strengthen the hand of governments as they confront protectionist pressures.
“This will not occur unless they are all ready for heavy political lifting at home,” he said, adding there would be a “crunch time meeting” in the first quarter to check if the goal was attainable.
Prospects for meeting the deadline remain uncertain, he said.
“The jury is still out until the end of the first quarter of next year,” he said.
A ministerial meeting in Geneva last week made little progress towards ending the impasse.
The Doha round began in 2001, with a focus on dismantling obstacles to trade for poor nations by striking an accord that will cut agriculture subsidies and tariffs on industrial goods. Deadlines to conclude the talks have been repeatedly missed.
Discussions have been dogged by disagreements on issues including how much the US and the EU should reduce aid to their farmers and the extent to which developing countries such as India, China and South Africa should cut tariffs.
Lamy said developing states suffer especially from protectionism.
“Our poor members have been hit short-term by the shrinking trade,” he said.
“They depend much more than others on trade to grow their economy and to reduce poverty, which is why fighting protectionism is even more important for them as it is for richer countries,” Lamy said.
Supachai Panitchpakdi, secretary general of the UN Conference on Trade and Development, said discussions on new multilateral fiscal regulations to avoid a repeat crisis should proceed in a fair manner.
“There cannot be a stable global economic governance without having both trade and finance regulated at the multilateral level,” he told a separate press conference on the forum’s sidelines.
Supachai said it would be necessary to stress equal treatment for member countries.
“So there should not be a double standard in a way that rules are applied — one set of rules for industrialized countries or one set of rules for developing countries,” he said. “They would all be subjected to the same rules — no double standard.”
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique