Members of the Geneva-based
WTO should move to quickly finish an agreement on trade facilitation, leaders
from various regional development banks and then-World Bank head Robert Zoellick said last week.
The call was made in an
editorial that was jointly signed by Zoellick, who
also finished his term as World Bank President last week, and the heads of the
Islamic Development Bank, African Development Bank, Asian Development Bank,
European Bank for Reconstruction and Development; and Inter-American
Development Bank.
“More than a decade after the
launch of the Doha Round, this agreement could be a down payment on the
commitment WTO members have made to linking trade and development,” they added,
noting the measures likely to be covered in such a pact would have major gains
for developing countries and likely cost just US$7 million to US11 million to
implement, spread over various years, according to World Bank research.
An agreement on trade
facilitation - which deals with issues such as customs and border measures -
has been floated in various contexts over the past few months as a Doha
deliverable that could soon be achieved. The eleven-year Doha talks were
declared at an impasse last December, with members being directed to explore
new negotiating approaches to advance the talks in areas where progress might
be possible.
Last year, the chair of the
trade facilitation talks was the only one to submit a new, full draft text
ahead of an Easter deadline, which showed few obstacles in the way of
eventually clinching a deal and prompted speculation from some trade observers
that an agreement in this area could eventually be possible, though questions
over matching commitments with resources and how to achieve balance within
those negotiations have continued to be floated by various members.