Bangkok, Oct 19: The World Trade Organization must pick up the pieces of negotiations that collapsed in Mexico last month and reach a new deal to liberalise global commerce or its members will suffer lost economic opportunities and mediocre expansion, its chief Supachai Panitchpakdi said today. Supachai told business leaders meeting alongside the annual Apec summit that talk about restarting the stalled WTO negotiations is fine for politicians, but it's now time to craft a concrete trade pact to benefit nations rich and poor.
"What we need is to translate the political will into terms of action," Supachai told the international executives gathered in the Thai capital. "I call it flexibility, compromise or give and take. We need an approach of give and take to take this round to an end."
Supachai said all the criticism over the failure the Cancun, Mexico, talks in September has overshadowed what was already accomplished in the negotiations launched in 2001 - including a deal to provide essential medicines to poor nations who need them.
Bureau Report