MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Lamy in Montevideo for Uruguay Round anniversary

World Trade Organization Secretary General Pascal Lamy arrived Tuesday in Uruguay for the twentieth anniversary celebration of the launching of the GATT Uruguay Round in 1986.

Mr. Lamy comes in the midst of the stalled WTO Doha Round negotiations which if not resumed could set back the clock of global trade liberalization several years, possibly the only fact on which the major world players can agree on.

"For us it's most important to give our total support to the resumption of the Doha round, to strengthen WTO and advance in the elimination of farm subsidies and farm export grants", said Uruguayan Foreign Affairs minister Reinaldo Gargano on receiving Mr. Lamy in Montevideo.

Mr. Lamy later met with Economy Minister Danilo Astori, Tourism Minister Hector Lescano and Agriculture Deputy Secretary Ernesto Agassi.

Although Mr. Lamy made no official statements and avoided the press Minister Astori said the WTO chairman stated that an agreement for a successful end to the Doha round "is necessary and possible".

Since last June official Doha round talks are temporarily suspended since the main players, US, EU and the G 20 group have been unable to reach an agreement regarding agriculture subsidies and market access.

Last week Director Pascal Lamy announced a restart to lower-level technical work on the talks, but said it was too soon to formally reconvene the round.

"We insisted to Mr Lamy of our interest in retaking negotiations and eliminating subsidies and tariff barriers, and for all sides to honor what was agreed regarding export subsidies", said Mr. Astori.

Mr. Lamy is the main guest for Wednesday's celebration of the Uruguay Round XXth anniversary.

In Geneva, WTO headquarters, US Trade Representative spokeswoman Gretchen Hamel said that "United States alone does not shoulder responsibility for salvaging the Doha Round" and called on Europe and other nations to make concessions to ignite stalled talks.

"We all need to show flexibility, including the EU" said Gretchen Hamel on the heels of a call from Peter Mandelson, EU's top negotiator, for a stepped-up US offer on cutting farm subsidies.

US officials argue that the EU continues to avoid meeting its own obligations toward reducing market-distorting farm supports.

In a speech in India over the weekend, Mandelson, the European Union trade commissioner, said the US, an "indispensable nation" in the talks, must make real cuts of a few billion dollars to a subsidy programme that totals 20 billion a year.

He said further US concessions, improving a proposal Washington hailed a year ago, would be key in seizing a narrow window for resuming the talks in early 2007.

The EU will do its part, Mandelson said, by increasing its offer to cut farm tariffs, bringing it to 49%, and by locking in reforms to its own subsidy programme