Trade an opportunity – not a problem says business leader
Interviewed on BBC television today, ICC Secretary General Maria Livanos Cattaui today called on governments to put posturing and rhetoric aside and work together for a successful Doha round trade agreement.
Speaking on BBC World a few hours before a key meeting of World Trade Organizations governments in Geneva, Ms Cattaui said that developing countries especially should understand that “trade is an opportunity, not a problem”.
She said that, contrary to media reports, the WTO had been making progress. ICC national committees around the world were approaching governments, country by country, calling on them to exert the political will to advance the negotiations.
ICC has called on WTO members to focus on the following priorities to relaunch the round:
- reaching agreement on how to deal with negotiations on liberalizing trade in agriculture;
- reaching agreement on how to deal with negotiations on market access for non-agricultural products; and
- finding a way to advance the so-called Singapore issues – competition, investment, trade facilitation and transparency in government procurement – on their own merit and at their own pace.
