Agence France Presse / Sue Kendall
PARIS, June 27 (AFP) - Ministers of 29 major industrial countries said here Tuesday they are "determined" to work for the launch "as soon as possible" of a new round of global trade talks that fully include the world's poorest nations.
"Ministers are determined to work towards the launch as soon as possible of an ambitious, balanced and broad-based WTO round .... reflecting the needs and aspirations of all WTO members," the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development said in a statement at the end of its two-day annual ministerial meeting here.
The ministers said they had learned the "clear" lessons of a World Trade Organisation ministerial meeting in Seattle, Washington, in November which failed to agree on launching a new round of global trade talks.
"Ministers agreed that strong political will and greater flexibility on all sides are needed if we are to build consensus for a new round," the statement said.
"More must be done to address the particular and varied concerns of developing countries and there must be a broader engagement with our societies to establish a constructive dialogue on the benefits and challenges of trade liberalisation."
And the ministers stressed the need to fully involve the developing world in the process from the start.
One reason the Seattle talks foundered was the insistence of developing countries that they were assured of a fair share of the benefits of further trade liberalisation.
"The interests and concerns of developing countries are a particular priority in the preparations for and conduct of a new round," the OECD statement said.
And it insisted that further trade liberalisation based on strengthened multilateral rules "will help realise the promise of a 'new economy' and support poverty reduction and sustainable development."
WTO director general Mike Moore, who joined OECD ministers for their talks on trade, told them that time was running out to launch a new round, although there had been some "mellowing" of positions since Seattle.
In the text of remarks prepared for the meeting, Moore said his view that there is only a "modest" 15-20 percent chance of a rapid launch of new talks remains unchanged from the beginning of the year.
The United States and European Union -- whose failure to agree on conditions for a new round helped scupper an attempted launch in Seattle in November -- have made "considerable efforts ... to improve the transatlantic relationship," Moore said.
But "we have yet to see the concrete outcomes of this effort. As far as any of us knows, most of the issues which were difficult last year remain dificult."
The OECD meeting also reached agreement Tuesday on a new set of multilateral guidelines for business covering areas from human rights to the environment.
On Monday it published a list of 35 tax havens operating harmful tax practices, with a threat of possible sanctions against those who fail to mend their ways by July next year.
A first part of the communique published after the first day of the ministerial on Monday also said that the world economy was doing better than it has for some time, but that it was not clear whether the technology-driven effects of the "new economy" would offer sustainable higher growth for all.
And it cautioned that "sound growth- and stability-oriented macroeconomic policies, open and flexible domestic and international markets, and regulatory and administrative frameworks that encourage entrepreneurship are vital to good economic performance."
And it warned of the risk of a "digital divide" opening up both within and between countries due to problems of widespread access to the new technology, particularly for developing countries.
It said that the Japanese economy is showing signs of recovery but its durability is "uncertain," while the United States still faces a risk of increased inflation despite recent signs of economic slowdown, and should not ease monetary policy.
The European Union, meanwhile, needs to push ahead with structural reform to reap the full benefit of the technology-driven new economy, the statement said.:
