WTO chief reports progress in Doha work program negotiations

World Trade Organization (WTO) director-general Roberto Azevedo Monday stressed that progress had been made in the negotiation process of the Doha work program.

Azevedo told the WTO Trade Negotiations Committee that "while it is clear we still have a long way to go, and that some areas are proving very problematic, there is no doubt in my mind that we are making progress" on concluding a work program on the remaining Doha Round issues by July.

"After many years of deadlock, we are genuinely breaking new ground," he added.

He noted while some members are still taking a cautious approach, others are being more proactive, by putting forward fresh thinking, making proposals and putting forward papers.

Azevedo thought it encouraging that participation had been at a high level and that the engagement had been overwhelmingly constructive.

He emphasized it's time to move "from a finger-pointing mode to a solution-pointing mode, to maintain our focus on what is doable and to be prepared to leave our comfort zones."

In December 2013, after more than a decade of negotiations and missed deadlines, WTO achieved a breakthrough in its marathon trade-liberalization negotiations as trade ministers clinched a deal after a prolonged meeting on the Indonesia resort island of Bali.

The Bali package marked a concrete step forward in the Doha Round talks, which were launched in 2001 with an aim to help poor economies overcome barriers in global trade and prosper through the free flow of goods.

Last November, all WTO members made a consensus to seal the trade facilitation agreement (TFA), the first-ever multilateral pact in WTO's nearly two-decade history, which kicked off the ratification process of the related protocol.

WTO members have set July 2015 as the target for agreeing on a work program for concluding the Doha Round talks. Endit