Lamy calls on business to help resuscitate talks

Business must get behind the stalled World Trade Organization (WTO) talks to stop the round failing, Pascal Lamy, the secretary-general of the WTO said this week.

But the chairman of ­Ericsson Michael Tres­chow insisted business was behind the talks and that blaming different groups was not helpful. "It isn’t a matter of ­industry not being ­behind [the talks] but we can ­always do more," he said.

The comments came amid renewed interest in the WTO talks as the US Congressional elections of 7 November approach.

Some believe that the talks could be put back on track following a ­summit in Vietnam on 18-19 November of the Asia Pacific Co-­operation group, which will gather together ­leaders from China, ­Russia and the US.

Lamy warned that the focus on bilateral deals, seen in recent EU moves towards trade deals with India, South Korea, the Middle East, South American states and ­China, could undermine the WTO talks. "All ­efforts [should be] on getting a multilateral deal," Lamy said this week during a debate in Brussels organised by the European employers’ body, UNICE.

He stressed the issue later in a hearing at the European Parliament: "The poorest countries, which are three-quarters of the WTO [members], have a less favourable status in a bilateral way."

Treschow supported this view saying business would not benefit from bilateral deals. "They are not to the advantage of businesses. Companies are global and if you are putting a product ­together in Brussels you are sourcing the ­material from 30 to 40 countries and selling it to 100 countries."

He added that there were enough gains made from the WTO talks in commitments to reduce tariffs and introduce better regulation to benefit industry greatly. Europe would gain €20 billion if only one-third of what was offered at the talks was delivered, he said.

Business must get behind the stalled World Trade Organization (WTO) talks to stop the round failing, Pascal Lamy, the secretary-general of the WTO said this week.