Action urged on Doha deal

A committee of MPs has said the Doha trade round has gone on for too long to have a reasonable prospect of success.

Publishing a report on Tuesday, the Commons international development committee said the process begun in 2001 should now either be brought to a conclusion or scrapped.

The committee called for individual countries and trading blocs such as the EU to make unilateral moves to break the deadlock in talks originally designed to boost the trading opportunities of developing economies.

The MPs said their inquiry into the issue had shown that developed nations are failing to make substantial concessions.

"Developed countries must accept responsibility if Doha fails," said committee chairman Malcolm Bruce.

"They should now either reinvigorate the process with unilateral moves or draw the process to a close if it is irretrievably moribund.

"The government should continue to make the case for unilateral moves with other EU member states and encourage all negotiators to approach Doha with the degree of  flexibility needed to succeed."

The report also examined machinery of government changes made by Gordon Brown when he became prime minister in June which placed lead responsibility for trade with the Department for International Development.

However the committee concluded that while the move had the potential to improve accountability and make trade policy focused on development, it had so far failed to do so as it had been subject to excessive complexity and new layers of bureaucracy.

"It is absolutely right that trade and development policy should work in concert to lift the poor out of poverty," Bruce said.

"But lessons will need to be learnt from the confusion of the months following the announcement of these changes.

"The process for implementing the changes and their implications should be set out right at the start, rather than piecemeal and over a period of months."