Isaura Daniel*
isaura.daniel@anba.com.br
São Paulo – The negotiation of the Doha Rounds, the global trade agreement that is being negotiated between developing and developed countries like the United States and Europe, should progress slowly, probably in 2008. This is the most probable scenery for the Doha Rounds, according to Renato Baumann, director at the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (Eclac). The Eclac is connected to the United Nations (UN) and Baumann discussed the matter during one of the talks at the 2nd Brazilian Congress of Innovation in Industry, which ends today (25) at Hilton Hotel, in São Paulo.
According to him, the other two possible sceneries for the negotiations, the return to talks in 2007 and the suspension of talks, are less probable. What is barring the Rounds is concessions that the negotiators are not prepared to make. The United States and European Union are resisting eliminating agricultural subsidies and developing countries resist opening their government purchases and service sectors.
*Translated by Mark Ament
