Three out of four executives are dissatisfied with political leaders' efforts to contain protectionist measures that slow the pace of world trade talks, a survey by the Ifo Institute and the International Chamber of Commerce found.
Seventy-three percent of the 1,139 international executives surveyed said it is important to the continued growth of their countries' economies that the current round of the World Trade Organization negotiations accelerates.
The figure rises to 79 percent for North America and 76 percent for western Europe.
Businesspeople including Jean-Rene Fourtou, chairman of Vivendi Universal SA and the head of the International Chamber of Commerce, are pressing leaders from the Group of Eight industrialized nations to back a global accord to cut business costs and boost the world economy. A WTO pact would be worth as much as $500 billion to the global economy.
"I hope they will hear our voice and stick to the schedule," Fourtou said in an interview in Marrakech, Morocco, where the ICC is holding a five-day conference. "We are aware things are not easy."
WTO negotiators representing the Geneva, Switzerland-based body's 147 governments are aiming to craft a blueprint for an eventual accord by the end of July.
The search for an agreement, which would slash import duties and make it easier for companies to post staff abroad and cut customs red tape at borders, began in 2001.
"The G8 must give an impulse and agree to make concessions," Axa SA Chairman Claude Bebear said in an interview on the sidelines of the conference. "Companies gathered at the congress must also come with proposals."
President George W. Bush is hosting the 30th annual G8 Summit today through Thursday in the coastal resort town of Sea Island, Ga. The meeting brings together the leaders of the world's eight most industrialized nations: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, Britain and the United States, which together account for more than $24 trillion, or two-thirds, of the world's gross domestic product.
"Talks may restart on a new and more constructive basis than in the past, and there are already positive signs toward an open international trade system" said the Ifo World Economic Survey, a Munich-based economics research institute.
The European Union proposed ending its use of agricultural export subsidies last month in an effort to revive the talks. That prompted renewed optimism that the WTO would meet its July deadline for an outline of an agreement.
Reaching an accord would require "courage from politicians and a determined action from companies to improve their image," said Valery Giscard d'Estaing, head of the European Convention.
Talks have stumbled on the creation of new rules to help trade, investments and competition or transparency in government procurement.
The official deadline for an agreement is Jan. 1.
Seventy-four percent the people surveyed and 83 percent of those polled in North America said they were dissatisfied with political efforts to promote a better understanding of the benefits of an international trade system.
The survey, conducted in April with executives from 91 countries, concluded that the world economy will expand by 3.4 percent in the next 12 months, compared with 2.1 percent forecast in 2003 for the year ending in April.Detroit Free Press:
