Unlocking WTO Talks
January 6, 2007
His comments came ahead of Monday's meeting in Washington between European Commission President Jose Barroso and US President George W. Bush. Mandelson himself will hold talks with US Trade Representative Susan Schwab in Washington on the same day.
"Monday's meeting is the opportunity for the EU and the US to invigorate the multilateral Doha trade talks," Mandelson said in a statement. "I hope both sides will signal strong new political commitment to rapid progress. We have now entered a narrow window of opportunity lasting until Easter during which success for the world trade talks is possible.
"The quiet, constructive bilateral contacts of the last few months have made clear to us all the possible outline of a final deal," he added. "We now need the added momentum of political leadership from the highest level. Europe and the US have a shared responsibility to make this happen."
EU officials hope to see a change in political willingness to end the impasse with the passage of control in the US Congress to the Democrats.
"It's undeniable there was protectionist rhetoric around the elections in November but I think we have to look beyond that," Mandelson's spokesman Peter Power said on Friday.
Talks suspended in July
The World Trade Organization suspended the so-called Doha round in July after negotiators from six major players, including the US, EU, Brazil and India, failed to hammer out a framework of an accord after five years of talks.
The Doha Round, launched in the Qatari capital in November 2001, is mired in an impasse as Western and developing countries remain split on issues such as agriculture subsidies and market access.
Developing countries are demanding lower tariffs on their agricultural exports to US and European markets while industrialized nations seek greater access to developing and emerging countries for their industrial goods and services.
EU concessions
Mandelson's office stressed that Europe remains willing to improve its farm tariff offer by adding substantially to the 39 percent cuts it offered a year ago. Europe is ready to add more than 10 percentage points "and get within close reach of the average farm tariff cut demanded by developing countries," which is 51.5 percent, the statement said.
"We are ready to do this in a way that demonstrably gives new market access to the United States and other agricultural exporters in all products," it added.
The EU is asking Washington to make for real cuts in its farm subsidies, also to levels close to those requested by developing countries. This would mean a budget cut of around $8 billion dollars (six billion euros) from current ceilings of $23 billion to around $15 billion.
Big agenda
Apart from Mandelson and Barroso, the EU's External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner will also take part in the visit to Washington. Trade and economic ties aside, the talks are also expected to focus on energy security, climate change and the Middle East. The White House has said that Afghanistan, Darfur and the fight against terrorism will also be on the agenda.