*EPF409 05/16/2002
WTO Director Michael Moore Warns of Looming Trade Deadlines
(Addresses OECD ministers, urges resolution of disputes) (430)

By Berta Gomez
Washington File Correspondent

Paris -- Word Trade Organization (WTO) Director General Michael Moore called on ministers from 30 market countries to resist protectionism and reaffirm their commitment to free trade as the WTO moves to meet deadlines for global trade talks.

"For the most part [the] setting-up phase is over. Already deadlines are looming," Moore said May 16 to ministers of Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) member-countries gathered for their annual two-day meeting in Paris.

Officials need to summon "courage and leadership ... to improve the environment" for the trade talks that were launched in November 2001 in Doha, Qatar, Moore said in an apparent reference to trade disputes -- notably over U.S. steel tariffs and farm policy -- that have been a recurring theme of the OECD meeting.

"There are storm clouds on the economic horizon and hanging over the multilateral trading system -- economic trends, proliferation of disputes, increasing pressure for a return to protectionist measures," he said, according to a text of his remarks made available to reporters.

"We need your visible commitment and we need it now. If I can be frank, we also need reassurances from the majors that the issues you have before you currently will not be allowed to undermine our work towards a successful round," Moore said.

He told the officials that the next WTO ministerial conference had been set for September 2003 in Cancun, Mexico. "We have just 16 months until the ministerial in Cancun," he said. "After that we have little more than a year to bring the round to conclusion" by the January 2005 deadline set in Doha.

At WTO headquarters in Geneva, he said, the progress-report thus far is "mixed." On the positive side, Moore reported that a trade negotiating committee (TNC) had been established, the structure of the negotiations determined, the chairs of the committees selected and work programs for most of the bodies finalized. He said WTO members had fully supported efforts to provide technical assistance to developing countries, and that the WTO plans to engage more fully with civil society were bearing fruit.

However, he warned of possible complacency and urged officials not to lose any more time on procedural issues. "Participants in the negotiations need to be much more forthcoming about their priorities. This is urgent so that the negotiations can deepen and proceed on a basis of realism. We need to see concrete proposals coming forward -- otherwise it's just shadow-boxing," he said.

(The Washington File is a product of the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

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