SINGAPORE: Finance chiefs urge conclusion to global trade talks as wrangling mars International Monetary Fund (IMF) meeting in Singapore

World finance chiefs meeting on Sunday (September 17) were optimistic that a swift conclusion will be reached to global trade talks that sputtered recently. The Doha Development Round as the talks are known ended without any agreement last month due mainly to disagreements between United States and European states over farm subsidies. But finance chiefs attending the International Monetary and Finance Committee meeting ahead of the annual International Monetary Fund (IMF) meetings in Singapore were looking at concluding the talks by year end, United Kingdom Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown told reporters in Singapore. "I believe that Mr Lamy, the head of the World Trade Organisation, is doing in difficult circumstances, an excellent job and I believe he will be in a position with the enthusiasm and also the determination expressed today to move negotiations forward. So the aid for trade announcement, the determination of America, the statements made by European ministers, the communique that says we want a successful outcome by the end of the year shows that we are fired up as a group in wanting both a conclusion to the trade round and the successful outcome and I believe that is sending a message right across the world," said Brown, who chaired the committee meeting. It was the most positive statement of the communique on a day when squabbling over voting clout soured the International Monetary Fund's annual meeting on Sunday as countries lined up to find fault with a plan crafted to reflect a shifting balance of power in the world economy. The proposal, which IMF chief Rodrigo Rato says would usher in the most significant change at the fund in a generation, is almost sure to be approved when votes from the IMF's 184 member nations are tallied on Monday. But the blueprint has exposed deep fault lines at an agency struggling to redefine its role in a world where fewer countries are turning to it for emergency loans and big countries are more frequently ignoring its policy advice. The plan will immediately boost the IMF votes, or "quotas," of four countries -- China, South Korea, Mexico and Turkey -- to be followed by a second stage of broader reforms to recognize the growing weight of emerging nations. Argentina and India, unhappy that they would not gain enough power, said the aim of the overhaul should be to give a louder voice to developing countries as a group. "But I have heard all of them expressing their backing to first of all, the ad hoc increase for various representative economies, second the need for low income countries to be protected and enhance their voice, third the need for the fund to reform its governance and quotas shares and to do, to review the actual formula. So in that respect I think there is consensus on what to do, even there is consensus on some of the measures that are being voted right now and there is some differences regarding the future, for instance the discussion of the formula," Rato said at a joint news conference with Brown. The proposed overhaul enjoys the backing of enough big shareholders to ensure it will be endorsed. "Although there were views expressed both sides about the vote that is taking place tomorrow, the discussion that took place at the committee involved 20 countries speaking but the communique is unanimous in saying that the package of reforms when implemented will make significant progress in realigning quota shares to members' relative positions in the world economy and equally important, enhance the voice of low income in the International Monetary Fund. Now that is an unanimous statement made by the member countries as a result of our discussions," Brown added. The Group of Seven rich industrial nations, in endorsing the plan, promised on Saturday to work with other member governments to ensure the changes are implemented equitably. The focus switched to the inner workings of the IMF a day after G7 finance ministers and central bank governors gave a positive outlook for the world economy but warned of the risks from inflation, high oil prices and protectionism.

ITN Source | September 17, 2006

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