ICC Chairman Marcus Wallenberg met with President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of Brazil and Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim in Stockholm today, during their official state visit, to review the latest developments in the Doha round.

Mr Wallenberg described ICC’s longstanding mission to promote cross-border trade and investment, stressing the importance of multilateralism and ICC’s actions in support of the Doha round, and emphasized the need to bring the trade negotiations to a successful conclusion.

Mr Wallenberg noted that a failure of the Doha round could be especially costly for big emerging economies like Brazil and encouraged Brazil to continue doing everything that it could to ensure the Doha round was a success.

Mr Silva and Mr Amorim said they were still optimistic about the Doha round. Mr Amorim noted that the positions of the different negotiators are now closer then they were some months ago and that the negotiations have re-started in Geneva with all the participants, which he described as a positive evolution.

After the meeting, Mr Wallenberg said: “As a big and dynamic emerging economy that has actively expressed the interests of the developing countries in the Doha round, Brazil has a special responsibility to contribute to shaping a successful agreement in the coming months. Brazil’s position is key.”

 “A positive conclusion of the Doha Round is still possible,” Mr Wallenberg added.

ICC has consistently called for strong government action to reach an agreement on the Doha round that is ambitious, balanced and comprehensive.