Swiss favour trade liberalisation

Switzerland will be calling for a more liberal global trade at the WTO meeting swissinfo.ch

The Swiss government is to press for more liberal global trade at the World Trade Organisation meeting in the Gulf state of Qatar over the next five days.

Switzerland, which is represented by Economics Minister Pascal Couchepin, wants a new round of trade negotiations, which would likely to focus on agricultural subsidies, investment and industrial patents.

“Our position is that what is good for the multilateral trade system increases the legal security, and therefore, is good for Switzerland,” says Luzius Wasescha, a senior official at the Economics Ministry.

He says Switzerland should provide developing countries and emerging markets with financial and technical assistance. But he rejects proposals for unilateral concessions for all developing countries.

Wasescha is therefore calling for a rebalancing of commitments among developing countries.

Patents for pharmaceuticals

One of the most controversial issues to be discussed at Doha is the protection of industrial patents under an agreement on Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights (Trips).

Wasescha says the existing regulations protecting industrial patents are flexible enough to allow the poorest countries to get better access to patented products, including pharmaceuticals, to combat the spread of diseases such as Aids.

However, non-governmental organisations have argued that by opposing an easing of the rules the industrialised world and the business community are putting profit before health.

Marianne Hochuli of the non-governmental development aid group, the Bern Declaration, accuses the Swiss authorities of trying to create divisions among the poorer countries.

In addition, she opposes opening a new round of trade talks: “Liberalisation is not always a good way for poor people. Take farmers, for them trade liberalisation can prevent them from earning their lives,” Hochuli told swissinfo.

She says non-governmental organisations want a survey in individual countries to assess the impact of globalisation, before a new round of trade talks is launched.

Business ambitions

The Swiss Business Federation, economiesuisse, for its part, is calling on WTO members to make agriculture, investment and competition rules more flexible.

Rudolf Ramsauer, the director of economiesuisse, admits that the federation’s stance is more ambitious than the Swiss government’s position and he believes that it will be difficult to reach a deal at the Doha conference.

A previous ministerial meeting of the WTO ended in failure in Seattle in 1999. However, Ramsauer warns that another failure by WTO members in Doha to come up with an agreement would be disastrous for the economy:

“The business climate is not very good at the moment”, Ramsauer told swissinfo.

“It is therefore really important tot get a positive signal from Doha that trade will continue, that investment will continue and that the governments will cooperate in order to foster trade and investment which is the basis for our well being.”

swissinfo and agencies