G-20, WTO should report to UN: Lamy

‘New triangle of global governance’ needed, says Director-General. Taking the World Trade Organisation and G-20 beyond the realm of trade and economics,WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy today said it was important to have both the G-20 and international agencies such as WTO reporting to the ‘parliament’ of United Nations in the long term.

Lamy is here to attend an informal ministerial meeting that will be clearing the way for concluding the Doha round of trade negotiations.

Reporting to the UN would constitute a potent mix of leadership, inclusiveness and action to ensure coherent and effective global governance, he said in his 35-minute address to Indian industry at a Ficci meeting.

Speaking from a written text, Lamy talked of a new “triangle of global governance” involving the G-20, the WTO and the UN. “On one side of the triangle lies the G-20, providing global political leadership and direction; and on another side lie member-driven international organisations providing expertise and specialised inputs whether rules, policies or programmes, such as the WTO. The third side of the triangle is the G-192, the United Nations, providing a universal forum for accountability,” he said.

Expressing concern at the impact of the current tough economic environment over the global trade talks, Lamy called for the Delhi ministerial meeting to mark the beginning of the “endgame” of the Doha round of negotiations.

“Today and tomorrow, the group of WTO ministers will have the opportunity to map out how they intend to bring the Doha Round to closure in 2010,” said Lamy.

Lamy added that the current worldwide trade environment has become a “casualty” of the global economic meltdown, which has caused a simultaneous reduction in the aggregate demand across all major economies. “WTO economists have foreseen a decline (in demand) this year of nearly 10 per cent in volume terms, its worst result since the end of the second world war,” he said.

Observing that measures to stimulate the economy by some countries to counter the slowdown have had a “chilling effect” on global trade, Lamy urged global leaders to remain vigilant on the increased restrictive trade measures.

“We have seen an increase in restrictive trade measures since the onset of the crisis. These is no room for complacency. Some countries have increased tariffs, instituted new tariff measures and initiated more anti-dumping actions. Some of the measures contain provisions that favour domestic goods and services at the expense of imports,” Lamy warned.

Expressing the need to promote the development agenda of the trade discussions, Lamy said, “developing countries should be ensured a fair chance of competing in the world commodity markets by reducing trade-distorting subsidies, as would be the case with the conclusion of the Doha round.”

Among other challenges facing the world, he spoke about climate change and how mitigating global warming and adapting to its consequences would require major economic investment and, above all, unequivocal determination on the part of policy makers.

“Here again, go-it-alone measures will not achieve the desired results. Relying on trade measures to fix global environmental problems will not work. I am of the firm conviction that the relationship between international trade and climate change would be best defined as a follow-up to a consensual international accord on climate change that successfully embraces all major polluters,” he said.