The stalled Doha Round trade negotiations at the World Trade Organization will become important again once the current economic stimuli wear off, Supachai Panitchpakdi, secretary-general of the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), told members of the Association of Correspondents Accredited to the United Nations (ACANU) in Geneva today. “Times are now a bit difficult for Doha,” said the former WTO director general. But, “all the stimuli in the world will not solve the economic crisis unless trade picks up its pace. Eventually, people will be driven back to the negotiating table” because they will need the stimulus of trade, such as from new free trade agreements, he said.
But some trust-building needs to happen in the meantime, Supachai added, as smaller economies have seen unfulfilled promises by the Group of Eight developed countries of assistance and restraint from trade-restricting measures. Meanwhile, he said, leader meetings like the G-8 or G-20 should refrain from making pronouncements such as that the Doha Round will be completed by a specific time.