In Brazilian capital BrasÀlia, the Prime Minister of Italy, Romano Prodi, stated this Tuesday, March 27, that wealthier countries must step back for the Doha Round of the World Trade Organization (WTO) to unlock.
"We must take a step back to make this agreement possible. The non-solving of the Doha Round can harm the world and betray our political goals," he said, following a meeting with Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva at Palácio do Planalto (The Brazilian presidential office).
The Doha Round was interrupted in July 2006 due to differences between WTO member nations regarding the gradual withdrawal of subsidies granted by wealthy countries to their farmers.
In a speech this Tuesday, Lula called for the Italian government to devise "a stance of negotiation for Europe," so that an agreement can be reached to help poorer countries.
"We must correct the injustices created by a model of trade liberalization that has not yet brought the benefits that were promised so many times to most WTO member countries," Lula said.
Regarding bilateral trade agreements between countries, Prodi claimed that they "must follow a set of rules, otherwise, in the future, they might harm countries that are outside of this realm [of international trade], such as African countries."
