MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

US could resort to bilateralism.

United States threatened to resort to an own agenda of bilateral agreements if the current global trade negotiations in the framework of the World Trade Organization rounds are not achieved by January 2005.

"President Bush is committed to free trade. We prefer the WTO but we can also resort to bilateral mechanisms, (as with Singapore and Chile). All we're doing is geared to those countries that want open markets such as we do in the US", said US Trade representative Robert Zoellick, adding that "if we can't find them in the WTO, we'll agree with those who really want to advance in free trade".

Mr. Zoellick's warning comes just before the Cancun, Mexico WTO round when 146 countries will try to rescue the Doha round marred negotiations.

The European Union counterpart Pascal Lamy, who also participated in the video conference organized in Washington that the non completion of the Doha round could have negative consequences for the world economy.

"Cancún is a half way review and the big decision is if we've managed to advance half of the way, sufficient to ensure that with another 50% thrust we can effectively reach the 2005 goal", stressed Mr. Lamy.

Zoellick and Lamy mostly agreed that one of the major Cancun challenges is to develop a framework for talks on agriculture, goods and services, without having to express a definitive timetable for the cut of subsidies and tariffs.

Other issues in the Cancun table are to decide whether talks on the Singapore agenda (investment, competition, government purchasing transparency and credit access), should be included; if emerging countries contrary to developed countries need a special treatment and a review of existing global trade regulations.

"Developing countries such as Brazil might need special conditions in some cases, but Brazil is different to Africa, to the Caribbean", argued Mr. Zoellick. "Emerging countries will play an important role in the coming talks but have they very diverse interests".

"One of the crucial points and the subsistence of WTO will be to see if they can make compatible individual interests with overall acceptance and promotion of WTO", underlined the US Trade representative.

Mr. Zoellick said that Brazil with the WTO or the Free Trade of the Americas Association, FTAA, can have a success strategy, which means "helping each other, cutting subsidies, opening markets, a freer world trade. This could be the competitive Brazil of the future that President Lula aspires".

Last week Brazilian Foreign Secretary said that Brazil prefers an extension of the timetable to eliminate agricultural subsidies instead of reducing the level of targets set out in the 2001 Doha WTO round.

Cancun talks are scheduled to being next September 10 until the 14th. Thousands of protestors, as in previous global meetings, are converging in Mexico in the hope of having their voices heard.