Tony Blair insisted yesterday that there is a real chance of an eleventh-hour breakthrough in stalled global trade talks that will put the stalemated negotiations back on track for a successful conclusion.
In a bullish assessment of prospects for kick-starting the talks under the World Trade Organisation’s Doha round, the Prime Minister told the CBI conference that he was “relatively optimistic” that a way to end the impasse between the three main negotiating blocs could be found.
Mr Blair’s upbeat prognosis came before a joint appearance at the CBI today by Gordon Brown, the Chancellor, and Henry Paulson, the US Treasury Secretary, at which they are expected to throw their weight behind efforts to break the logjam in the talks.
The Prime Minister said that he saw room for movement in the negotiating stances of Europe, the United States and the G20 group of emerging market nations that is dominated by Brazil and India. Ministers from the leading blocs are to meet again early next year, WTO officials said yesterday.
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“This thing is like the Rubik’s Cube — you have to fit the whole thing together,” Mr Blair told the CBI. “There is a negotiation that can be done. And that is around something more on non-agricultural [market] access from the G20, the Europeans getting significantly bolder [with their] offer, but within the negotiation limit, and the Americans cutting agricultural subsidies by more than the present offer.”
The Prime Minister said that it would be a “massive wasted opportunity if we let this free trade deal go down”.