Press release 30 July 2008
Ministry for Foreign Affairs

WTO parties must take responsibility for continued negotiations

"After the collapse of the WTO talks yesterday, the parties to the talks must take their responsibility and think about how the Doha Round can be moved forward. Both US chief negotiator Susan Schwab and WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy have said that despite everything, the Doha Round is still alive. The hope is to be able to resume negotiations in the near future," says Swedish Minister for Trade Ewa Björling.

The purpose of the Doha Round is to enable developing countries to become better integrated into the world trade system, giving them considerably improved opportunities to trade agricultural and other products on market terms so as to create their own sustainable growth.

EU Commission calculations show that a successful Doha Round would add EUR 100-120 billion to annual global income. This would translate into EUR 165 per household per year in the EU. In a similar study conducted by the Swedish National Board of Trade a few years ago, the income increase per household worked out slightly higher in Sweden, at up to SEK 2 800 per year.

"It's important that we uphold the multilateral system for trade liberalisation. The Swedish Government will continue to work intensively for freer world trade within the WTO framework, but we do not expect swift results and will also continue to focus on bringing the ongoing negotiations between the EU and the Gulf States (the GCC) to a successful conclusion. We will also carry on with efforts to put a free trade agreement with India in place before long.

"In light of the collapse of the WTO talks it is even more important that we finalise the EPA agreements between the EU and countries in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific (the ACP countries) as soon as possible."

These agreements are constructed so as to enable the ACP countries to protect particularly sensitive production for long transitional periods while giving them access to the EU's internal market.

"This would increase world trade, lead to higher growth and bring greater opportunities for more countries to lift themselves out of poverty," states Dr Björling.