After the collapse of a weekend meeting of the six leading countries in the WTO Doha Round negotiations, Pascal Lamy, Director General of the WTO, announced a suspension of all negotiations indefinitely. This suspension was subsequently confirmed at the WTO General Council meeting in Geneva on 27-28 July.
For SITPRO, the suspension of negotiations on a trade facilitation agreement was a great disappointment. SITPRO has been among the organisations at the forefront of pressing the case for a WTO agreement, and is convinced that such an agreement will benefit all countries, but especially those in the developing world.
SITPRO welcomed attempts by EU Trade Commissioner, Peter Mandelson, to continue making progress on the key components of the development agenda by moving ahead with a development package that includes trade facilitation. However, it seemed clear from reactions in the WTO Negotiating Group on Trade Facilitation that other countries do not see trade facilitation being progressed outside the "single undertaking" of the Doha Development Agenda. Therefore, SITPRO hopes that WTO countries will make every effort towards an early resumption of full negotiations on the whole Doha agenda.
Return to SITPRO News: Issue 57, Summer 2006
