Fate of billions hangs on global trade deal, say WTO and UN chiefs

The heads of the United Nations and the World Trade Organisation on Monday both urged a successful conclusion to long-stalled global trade talks in order to lift billions of people out of poverty.
"The world desperately needs a successful conclusion to the Doha trade negotiations," UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon told a meeting of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) in Geneva.
"Existing trade barriers, agricultural subsidies, and restrictive rules on intellectual property rights reinforce global inequities - and they make a mockery of our tall claims to eliminate hunger and poverty from the world," he said.
WTO director general Pascal Lamy told the meeting that the issues dividing the 150 members of the global trade body are small compared to the proposals already on the table.
"It is also small compared to the potential benefits of rebalancing the multilateral trading system in favour of developing countries," he said. However, the chances of a deal in the short-term look scant after the collapse last month of talks between four key powers in the World Trade Organisation, the so-called "G4" group of the European Union, United States, Brazil and India.
Lamy said it is crucial the G4 countries each remain committed to the process, warning that "it could be fatal if these four members do not play a constructive role" in ongoing multilateral talks at WTO headquarters in Geneva.
"Today the Doha round is at a crossroad: the path towards success or the slow move towards a deep freeze," he said. The talks on a new global trade agreement, launched with great fanfare in the Qatari capital Doha six years ago, have been mired in cross-cutting disagreements between developed and developing countries over agricultural subsidies, tariffs and market access.
Lamy said a successful Doha round could reinvigorate the developing world, likening it to the process of decolonisation in the decades after the Second World War. However, he cautioned that "trade opening is not a panacea for all the challenges of development," and needs a supportive political, economic and social context in which to flourish.
Ban Ki-moon also reiterated calls for developed countries to be more generous with overseas aid in order to help meet the UN's Millennium Development Goals of halving extreme poverty by 2015.
"I cannot stress strongly enough the need for developed nations to keep their promises. They have to meet the 0.7 percent Official Development Assistance target." "Today, I urge donors to issue timelines for scaling up aid to reach their target commitments by 2010 and 2015," he said.
Lamy also urged the members of ECOSOC to "remind WTO negotiators that there are billions of people who are counting on this deal to deliver on the Millennium Development Goals." According to a UN report issued Monday, there has been "mixed" progress at meeting the Millennium Development Goals, with millions still living in poverty in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.