I expect no less of my colleagues gathered here

In the aftermath of the Declaration of the heads of State of G8, giving one month their trade negotiator respective to develop a first draft of agreement on the liberalisation of international trade, the leaders of the major emerging countries, invited to the Summit in St. Petersburg as the Director General of the world Organization of trade, Pascal Lamy, have joined this initiative.

Evidence of the commitment of each of the parties involved (United States, European Union and g-20 primarily), Prime Minister Tony Blair has been a little more confident about the chances of getting unstuck. "Until we have our lunch from Monday, Editor's note, I was somewhat pessimistic." "I'm less now", he said shortly before the close of the G8 Summit. "The discussions we had at our luncheon showed the strong desire of each to give power to Pascal Lamy" to reach an agreement, said Tony Blair.

Question what are the margins of manoeuvre available to everyone to avoid another failure would be consequences for the future of international trade and global growth is. Trade representatives of six major economies (Australia, Brazil, USA, India, Japan and European Union) were also to meet, since yesterday evening at Geneva in the presence of Pascal Lamy, back from St. Petersburg (read below).

If the political will seems to be there, the positions diverge. Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was, yesterday, in his address to the leaders of the G8, "ready to apply to my Minister in charge of the negotiations to the flexibility required to achieve an ambitious and balanced Doha. cycle result." I expect no less of my colleagues gathered here. "Same sound of Bell from the European Union, the President of the Commission, José Manuel Barroso, who reported him that Europe was ready to move.

Avoiding protectionism

But, for its part, the French President, Jacques Chirac, has proved a little less enthusiastic. Of course, Sunday, he said want to "an ambitious and balanced agreement. "But, he added, should each make efforts. Only Europe moved (...). The other protagonists to movement, and first in the United States, by the significant reduction in their agricultural domestic support and the effective elimination of their export aid. "And yesterday, in his final press conference, the French President said that he did not belong to the European leaders of the G8 (Germany, Great Britain, Italy, France) to make new proposals. It would take to do this, that the heads of State and Government of the twenty-five give a new mandate he said, referencing his statement of last Sunday: "we went, in the European agriculture supply from October 28 to the extreme limits of the mandate current, Editor's note given to the Commission by the Member States.".

Until the real negotiations begin, the heads of State of G8 are well aware of the dangers that the absence of an agreement at the WTO could lead to the world economy. On this subject, they concluded, yesterday, that "growth remains strong and widespread." They again committed themselves to "correct imbalances, promoting trade and investment liberalization," while wishing to modernize the international institutions and prevent any resurgence of protectionism. That Act.