Qatar to Push For Results at 8th World Chambers Congress

Doha, December 19 (QNA) - Qatar Chamber and the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) will present to the 8th World Chambers Congress, starting here April 22, 2013, the final perspective of the global business community and encourage representatives to convince their governments to bring Doha Round of negotiations to fruition, a top executive said here Wednesday. Speaking at media conference, organized at QC to announce details of the ICC World Chambers Federation (WCF) 8th World Chambers Congress to be hosted by Qatar at the Qatar National Convention Centre (QNCC) from April 22 to 25, QC and ICC Qatar CEO Remy Rowhani said, "Success at the Doha Round of trade negotiations is not a choice, but necessity for the betterment of global community, particularly the developing countries." As one of the oldest chambers in the region, Qatar hosting the 8th Congress, under the theme 'Opportunities For All' that will attract thousands of delegates from over 12,000 global chambers will be a historic day, he said. QC is hosting the four-day Congress that will bring together decision-makers, representatives from hundreds of multi-national businesses and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) for the first time in this region, he said. Organised biennially by the ICC-WCF, the Congress is the only international forum for chamber of commerce leaders to share experiences, exchange insights, develop networks and address business issues which affect global communities. The Doha Round of negotiations will continue with some contentious issues which "has seen a stalemate" over 11 years of talks. "In 11 years of discussions there have been some success, but in reality it is not a success all topics on the agenda is agreed upon," said Rowhani. In December 2011, the World Trade Organisation (WTO) had concluded a ministerial meeting in a stalemate at the Doha Round of negotiations over a global free trade pact and other issues. Initiated 11 years ago in Qatar, the Doha Round of talks has been inconclusive since developing and developed countries disagree on cutting farm subsidies and lowering industrial tariffs. Last year's Ministerial Meeting Conference Chairman and Nigerian Trade Minister Olusegun Aganga had then said, "The WTO's 153 member states agreed to more fully explore different negotiating approaches and intensify their efforts to look into ways to overcome the stalemate." Speaking to journalists today, QC CEO Rowhani rued the deadlock of negotiations and suggested expunging the WTO's Single Undertaking principle which is one of the reasons for the deadlock. The principle of Single Undertaking says that "Virtually every item of the negotiation is part of a whole and indivisible package and cannot be agreed separately." "This concept of 'Nothing is agreed until everything is agreed' has to be removed," said Rowhani. "It is like a veto power which every country has. So, even if one country disagrees we cannot move forward." One of the other principles that negotiators have to abide by is 'Special and Differential Treatment'. The negotiations have to take fully into account the principle of special and differential treatment for developing and least-developed countries. The next WTO Ministerial Meeting will be held in December 2013 in Bali. "Our representatives will go to Bali and present the views of the global business community seeking approval of governments which will be presented here to the Congress on April 22," Rowhani said. In December 2011, the World Trade Organisation (WTO) had concluded a ministerial meeting in a stalemate at the Doha Round of negotiations over a global free trade pact and other issues. Initiated 11 years ago in Qatar, the Doha Round of talks has been inconclusive since developing and developed countries disagree on cutting farm subsidies and lowering industrial tariffs. Last year's Ministerial Meeting Conference Chairman and Nigerian Trade Minister Olusegun Aganga had then said, "The WTO's 153 member states agreed to more fully explore different negotiating approaches and intensify their efforts to look into ways to overcome the stalemate." Speaking to journalists today, QC CEO Rowhani rued the deadlock of negotiations and suggested expunging the WTO's Single Undertaking principle which is one of the reasons for the deadlock. The principle of Single Undertaking says that "Virtually every item of the negotiation is part of a whole and indivisible package and cannot be agreed separately." "This concept of 'Nothing is agreed until everything is agreed' has to be removed," said Rowhani. "It is like a veto power which every country has. So, even if one country disagrees we cannot move forward." One of the other principles that negotiators have to abide by is 'Special and Differential Treatment'. The negotiations have to take fully into account the principle of special and differential treatment for developing and least-developed countries. The next WTO Ministerial Meeting will be held in December 2013 in Bali. "Our representatives will go to Bali and present the views of the global business community seeking approval of governments which will be presented here to the Congress on April 22," Rowhani said. Rowhani cited antiquated rules irrelevant to the modern developed world as one of the other stumbling blocks. "We cannot use trade rules framed in 1947 with 23 member countries for a body that now has grown to 157 members," he said. The QC CEO referred to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), a multilateral agreement regulating international trade established in 1947 in Geneva that was the precursor to the WTO formed in 1995. The original GATT text (GATT 1948) is still in effect under the WTO framework, but subject to the modifications of GATT 1994. The impasse on negotiations is due to the conflict between free trade on industrial goods and services but retention of protectionism on farm subsidies to domestic agricultural sector which is pushed by developed countries. The developing countries are pushing for the substantiation of the international liberalization of fair trade on agricultural products. These points of contention have hindered any progress to launch new WTO negotiations beyond the Doha Development Round. "We do not expect the WTO Ministerial Conference in Bali to accept our suggestions. We are seeing this as a process and we are looking beyond Doha Round," said Rowhani and added, "Only by joining hands and sharing the best we have, we can come up with a unified business and trade agenda that can serve as a real stimulus for positive societal growth." The Doha Round of negotiations which started in November 2011 covers, among other topics, tariffs, non-tariff measures, agriculture, labor standards, environment, competition, investment, transparency and patents. (QNA)