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Former WTO director general says trade talks at risk

7 December 2005

Former World Trade Organisation Director-General Mr Mike Moore last week discussed prospects for the WTO and the future of global trade liberalisation at the Sixth Annual Monash University APEC Lecture.

From left: Mr Mike Moore, Professor Alan Oxley, Executive Chairman of the Australian APEC Study Centre and Vice-Chancellor Professor Richard Larkins.

In an address to almost 100 delegates at the Sofitel Melbourne, Mr Moore said there was a real risk key world trade talks to be held in Hong Kong next week could collapse or result in nations walking out.

Part of the problem was the proliferation of bilateral and regional trade deals impacting on the global trading system and the failure of key trading nations to keep their promises to liberalise farm trade, he said.

Implementing a new round of global trade negotiations would be the equivalent of another China to the world economy, Mr Moore said. "Brazil alone would gain a quarter of a million new jobs, half of which would go to the poorest third of its workers."

The WTO, established in 1994, manages the GATT trading system that has been pivotal in creating the fastest rise in standards of living and the greatest fall in poverty in human history. But since its formation, efforts to further open world markets have faltered.

Mr Moore, who as Director-General oversaw the completion of the Uruguay round of trade talks, said there was a substantial risk that Hong Kong could go the way of other cities such as Cancun and Seattle, which have resulted in failed trade talks.

"This round will not be cost-free and change-free to developing countries," he said. "Some progress must be reported in opening services. This is in their interest and gives the agricultural protectionists something to bank in their capitals."