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No outcomes guaranteed in Nairobi: WTO chief

Xinhua, November 26, 2015 Adjust font size:

Speaking ahead of the 10th World Trade Organisation (WTO) Ministerial Conference in Nairobi, WTO Director-General Roberto Azevedo told press on Thursday that "if anything comes out of Nairobi, we will have to fight for it and fight hard for outcomes."

The first such conference held in Africa, Nairobi will host ministers from across the globe from Dec. 15 to Dec. 18 to determine whether a future consensus on trade can be reached.

"Given where we are now in terms of economic growth and challenges, we need a more coordinated approach," Azevedo explained.

"The worst case scenario is to have an environment which is so corrosive and contaminated that we spend a long time after Nairobi figuring how to move forward," said the WTO head, who also celebrated the filing of the 500th dispute settlement by WTO this year.

"The best case scenario is one where we can deliver on some outcomes, especially for the Least Developed Countries and also in areas where there is potential for convergence," he added, while warning that a common view on the future will be hard to attain.

"Countries need to talk more about how decisions on fiscal and monetary policies affect growth globally, and talk more about how trade measures affect global value chains," he highlighted.

Concerning the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade agreement reached by 12 economies in October this year, and other regional trade covenants, Azevedo maintained that many of the issues covered by the latter are based on "WTO DNA."

"The essence of these agreements is very much compatible and very much in line with WTO discipline," he maintained.

He warned however that initiatives also venture into new areas which could be of concern as they may neglect the voices of developing countries who will may be unable to shape future agendas.

The proliferation of standards, some of which are not necessarily compatible with each other, could furthermore burden businesses, especially those of a global nature.

"It's fair to say that there are no easy pickings at this point in time," Azevedo cautioned.

"For MC10, what you do there is as important as what you do after. It is about deliverables, we need to find ways of delivering," he concluded, while iterating WTO's commitment to realising the Doha Development Agenda. Endit