We, business communities, around the world have worked cooperatively for a successful conclusion of the WTO Doha Development Agenda (DDA) negotiations to promote global economic growth. But with the failure of WTO members to date to agree on how to expand market access for agricultural and non-agricultural products, we are increasingly concerned with the prospects of the DDA negotiations.
We regret that the G6 meeting in Geneva on 23-24 July broke down and led to the suspension of talks despite the fact that the G8 statement called for an agreement on modalities on agriculture and industrial tariffs within a month.
The suspension of the talks could lead to a failure of the Doha Round, which would undermine the promise of economic growth inherent in the DDA, and result in the loss of opportunities for WTO members to gain the tremendous benefits that accrue from trade liberalization.
In order to avoid this situation, we strongly hope that the negotiation will resume as early as possible.
We are committed to working for the ultimate success of the DDA negotiations in achieving an ambitious outcome, and to enhancing the multilateral trading system.
Business Roundtable is an association of chief executive officers of leading corporations with a combined workforce of more than 10 million employees and $4 trillion in annual revenues. The chief executives are committed to advocating public policies that foster vigorous economic growth, a dynamic global economy, and a well-trained and productive U.S. workforce essential for future competitiveness.
www.businessroundtable.org
The United States Chamber of Commerce is the world's largest business federation, representing 3 million businesses of every size and sector, including 2,800 state and local chambers of commerce and 830 business associations around the United States, and 104 American Chambers of Commerce in 87 countries.
www.uschamber.com
The NAM is the nation's largest industrial trade association, representing small and large manufacturers in every industrial sector and in all 50 states. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the NAM has 10 additional offices across the country.
www.nam.org
UNICE, the Confederation of European Business represents more than 20 million small, medium and large companies. Active in European affairs since 1958, UNICE's members are 39 central industrial and employers' federations from 33 countries, working together to achieve growth and competitiveness in Europe.
www.unice.org
The European Services Forum (ESF) is a network of representatives from the European services sector. We are committed to actively promoting the interests of the European services sector and the liberalisation of services markets throughout the world in connection with the GATS 2000 negotiations.
www.esf.be
The National Confederation of Industry is the chief institutional representative of the Brazilian industry. It focuses on improving the competitiveness of Brazilian industry and integrating it to the world economy.
www.cni.org.br
The Federation of Industries of the State of São Paulo (FIESP) is the leading regional manufacturing sector organization in Brazil, and is comprised of 132 sectoral trade associations representing over 40% of the country's industrial GDP and more than 140.000 companies.
www.fiesp.org.br
Business Council of Australia — The Business Council of Australia is an association of chief executives of leading Australian corporations with a combined national workforce of one million people. It was established in 1983 to provide a forum for Australian business leadership to contribute directly to public policy debates in order to build a better and more prosperous Australian society. The Business Council of Australia's aspiration is that Australia should be the best place in the world to live, learn, work and do business. For more information, visit www.bca.com.au.
ASR, The Australian Services Roundtable is the peak business body for the services industries in Australia.
www.servicesaustralia.org.au
The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) is a non-government, not-for-profit, industry led and industry managed organization, playing a proactive role in India's development process. Founded over 110 years ago, it is India's premier business association, with a direct membership of over 5800 organizations from the private as well as public sectors, including SMEs and MNCs and indirect membership of over 95,000 companies from around 325 national and regional sectoral associations.
www.ciionline.org
Nippon Keidanren is a key organization in Japan, consisting of more than 1,300 companies and about 130 industrial sector associations, and represents the interests of all businesses.
www.keidanren.or.jp