Date: 30/11/2010
Source: The World Health Organisation
Title: WTO: Lamy: Address by the Director-General of the WTO, announcing an “intensive work programme” to finish the Doha Round, Washington

I would like to welcome delegations to this informal meeting of the Trade Negotiations Committee.

As indicated in my fax to you of 15 November I thought it would be useful for us to review and assess developments in the Doha Development Agenda, following the meeting of the G20 and APEC. Also, since our last meeting in this format a second round of meetings of the small brainstorming groups has taken place and today is a good opportunity to take the temperature and evaluate the discussions in this process.

You will recall that at the 19 October TNC meeting delegations had looked ahead to the meeting of G20 Leaders in Seoul and the APEC leaders meeting in Yokohama, with the hope that a clear political signal would emanate from those gatherings that the Doha negotiations had now entered the final stretch.

In my concluding remarks at that meeting I emphasized that the challenge facing us in Geneva was to take the recent positive engagement in Geneva to a higher gear by going deeper and wider in the discussions, as a prelude for the “give and take” spirit that will be required to build a final package in our multilateral process. Delegations also called for the G20 Leaders to empower their negotiators to make the compromises necessary for this gear change to happen.

On the basis of the discussions among Leaders and Ministers at these recent meetings and my own private conversations, I believe we have now received the signals we need. The G20 in Seoul and APEC Leaders and Ministers in Yokohama both sent strong signals of political resolve to conclude the Doha Development Round. They recognised the 2011 window of opportunity to achieve this goal. They called for intensified engagement and for negotiations across the board to conclude the end game. They also committed to seeking domestic ratification once an outcome is reached. In short, they provided a clear signal that they expect the Doha Development Round to be a deliverable next year.

The discussions between leaders on this topic were to the point: how to supplement what is already on the table with new “gives and takes” in order to build a final package that they could take to their respective legislatures. Our task now is to translate this political will into negotiations here in Geneva. Since June last year, Members have been testing flexibilities in various formats. This process must now intensify in order to “walk the talk”.

In practical terms, if we are to deliver on this recent momentum we need a clear sense of urgency in the work programme in Geneva. Our “Cocktail Approach” means that every configuration and every possibility for progress must be exploited to the fullest, whether it is small groups, bilateral contacts, negotiating groups or my own consultations. We have been mixing these ingredients up until now. From now on we will continue to mix these ingredients but with different proportions. In order to ensure full participation, though, the Negotiating Groups need to be at the heart of our intensified efforts over the coming months, with the Chairs taking a more pro-active role in accelerating the work.

I know the Chairs are all prepared to do this. Together we plan an intensive work programme from now on, through the beginning of next year, advancing on all fronts of the negotiations at the same time. This is the only way to take advantage of our narrow window of opportunity. We need to recall constantly that the clock is not our friend. In order to finish the Round by the end of next year we will have to operate on a very tight timetable bearing in mind that, once the package is agreed, scheduling and legal polishing will take up a minimum of six to seven months.

With this timing in mind, I believe there is now a collective sense emerging that revised texts in all areas of the negotiation will have to be developed so that they appear towards the end of the first quarter of 2011. We all know these texts are essential as a tool to conclude the negotiations, but we also know that they need to be constructed in our customary bottom-up way, on the basis of consensus emerging from Members. I should also add that in order to arrive at these texts it will be essential for participants to take an active role and come up with inputs which take us towards consensus. As usual, convergence is best achieved by Members, so that Chairs can reflect rather than create compromises.

At the right moment we will also need to develop more of a global sense of what the final package will contain. I sense that issues are no longer confined to silos: as is to be expected, and indeed hoped, there are inter-linkages which are starting to appear and these will have to be properly addressed and negotiated when the time is ripe. How, where and when to do this is not something we need to decide now; I believe it will become clearer in the light of the substantive progress in the Negotiating Groups.

Finally, I think we need to plan for the greater involvement of Senior Officials as our work intensifies in the months ahead. Their role will be a dual one – assisting Ambassadors in the negotiations here in Geneva and helping Ministers undertake some of the heavy lifting at home.

So, in practical terms, the work programme we propose is as follows:
• During December Negotiating Groups will continue their scheduled activities, supplemented by informal contacts among participants.
• From 10 January the Rules, Trade Facilitation, Trade and Environment, TRIPS [trade-related intellectual property rights] and Development groups will begin intensive sessions, to be joined from 17 January by Agriculture, NAMA [non-agricultural market access], Services and Dispute Settlement.
• I would like to stress the importance of Ambassadors remaining fully involved in the negotiations themselves since they will be central to the final deal;
• Our intention is that this intensive negotiation across the board will continue as long as it takes to build the basis for revised texts. This will be a very demanding process, but there is no alternative if we are serious about concluding the Round, as I know we all are.
I am well aware of the strain it will put on all delegations but particularly on the smaller ones. You can be assured that the Negotiating Group Chairs and I will act in full accordance with our established principles concerning the scheduling of meetings, and we will make every effort to ensure transparency and full participation. As I have usually done, I shall consult with co-ordinators of regional and other groups to reinforce these efforts. I shall also keep up chairs meetings, informal TNC meetings, Green Rooms and all of my other contacts with delegations.

So that is what I want to table this morning. I won't give you my usual roundup of progress in the Negotiating Groups right now, so as to leave the focus firmly on the way ahead. However in the interests of transparency it will be included in the written version of my remarks which will be circulated after this meeting (see below).

In sum, we have the political signal, we have the technical expertise and we have the work programme. We now need to translate these into a comprehensive deal which you can all take back home. The final countdown starts now.