Is the folder on the facilitation of trade

They expected the International Chamber of commerce of the Hong Kong meeting

The Hong Kong meeting will probably not result to the expected results. My hopes are not completely void, but they remain modest. We must see Hong Kong as a stage, for which, it is true, we were expecting much in the month of October, when American and European proposals on agriculture. We thought that the negotiations were going to unblock and that we see happen to other proposals, in particular in the areas of industrial markets and services liberalization. We regret that there has not was of sufficient progress on the part of countries such as the India, the Brazil or, to a lesser extent, China, which considers have already paid for its accession to the WTO. Is the folder on the facilitation of trade. There, if we did not, at the WTO, this famous principle that as long as there is not agreement on everything, there is agreement on anything, we would actually poised to sign something.

Do you think that it is possible to complete Doha round next year

We wish. We would like to have more complete offers including in services, especially for areas where everyone has something to win, such as financial services and telecommunications. I understand that some States want to protect, for the moment, some services such as health, or that they have the will to keep, in some sectors, the characteristics of a public service. But ultimately we hope that all services are liberalized. The consensus is that it can lead to a political agreement before the end of the first half of 2006. That would leave time to translate this into the texts of the WTO until negotiations authority given by Congress to the White House expires. This round of Doha is not ended, should fear the proliferation of bilateral agreements, which are heavy and expensive for businesses to manage. This is not the preference of the Chamber of commerce international, favourable to a multilateral trading system. The ICC, whatever their origin, members want these negotiations to advance. Those who are willing to settle for the status quo are minority. Because a failure of the Doha round could cause a resurgence of protectionism. Which would be detrimental to global growth.

Some argue, in the United States or in Europe, that transatlantic agreement would as well be the case. What is the position of the ICC

Our members come from 90 countries, including developing countries such as the India or Pakistan, very active in our working committees. A transatlantic agreement, while between two very large trading powers, would be a second-best solution. Left side, developing countries would have the most to lose. We are for the success of the Hong Kong meeting, even if it is delayed a few months, for the success of the cycle, for the maintenance and strengthening of the multilateral system. It is known that a failure in this area would be detrimental to the least developed countries.

Two years ago, the Conference of Cancún was abandoning the idea of negotiating on investment. Do you want to see this topic in another jurisdiction than the WTO

I strongly regret that this question of investment has been removed from the Doha programme. No doubt more to questions confusion and misunderstanding than anything else, in fact. The investment is really the engine of growth, since it is a way of creating jobs, innovation, etc. He must find a multilateral legal framework that allows to invest with security to give confidence to the business. This topic is more treated within the United Nations, in terms of the financing of investments in developing countries. This topic deserves better.