White House welcomes launch of new trade round
( 2001-11-15 09:47 ) (7 )

The White House on Wednesday praised as a "singular breakthrough" WTO ministers' decision to launch a new round of talks aimed at lowering trade barriers and reviving an ailing global economy.

President George W. Bush "welcomes the agreement by the World Trade Organization to launch a new round of global trade negotiations" White House spokesman Ari Fleischer told reporters here.

"This agreement has the potential to expand prosperity throughout the world and to strengthen the global economy," Fleischer said as Bush was staying on his nearby ranch.

"These negotiations will give developing countries greater access to world markets and improved living standards, the spokesman said in Crawford, Texas.

World ministers meeting in Doha, Qatar, took aim earlier at barriers to the free flow of goods and services, approving a three-year trade liberalization process they hope will head off a looming global recession.

Ministers from the 142-member World Trade Organization backed the new round + dubbed the Doha Development Agenda + at the end of a gruelling six-day conference in the Qatari capital.

Delegates, exhausted from near non-stop bargaining, broke into broad smiles and applauded heartily when Qatari Commerce Minister and conference chairman Youssef Kamal banged a gavel to signal the deal had been approved by consensus.

"The past five days have seen a tremendous amount of commitment by all delegations," he said.

Takeo Hiranuma, Japan's minister of economy, trade and industry, linked the agreement here to the September 11 suicide attacks in the United States.

"With the growing uncertainty and instability in the global economy following the tragic events of September 11, I am extremely happy that we can send out a positive message to the world."

The cycle of negotiations called for in the text endorsed here would be wrapped up by January 1, 2005.

The WTO estimates that if all barriers to trade and investment were removed the world economy would be enriched by some US$1.9 trillion, the equivalent of adding two Chinas to the global financial network.