Pascal Lamy Quotations

We are hopeful we will be able to finalize a deal in the coming period,

What we need now is this market access part of the negotiations to move, and it has to move very rapidly if we want to keep any chance for Hong Kong to succeed.

Movement in those two areas would be helpful not only for the agriculture negotiations overall, but for the entire round.

I am half asleep but the negotiations are wide awake.

If adopted the actions recommended to the president would drastically reduce U.S. steel imports with severe implications for both the EU and third countries,

has perhaps the most difficult job in the world right now.

Some of you will have read, or perhaps written, stories about a Plan B to be implemented in the event that the Hong Kong ministerial conference falls short of our objectives.

Whichever goal I may have, this is the main one. It is the one that will decide whether I have water under the boat or not to sail to other horizons,

We have a huge amount of work to do in very little time. This is the message I will be sending to the ministers I will be meeting with.

We need to act now, ... It is clearly essential that we keep up the pressure in agriculture, and this week's meetings are important in that respect.

There is not a sufficient level of convergence among members on the level of ambition in the key areas of the negotiations, ... If we try this jump and miss it, we might lose what has been achieved already.

What people commit to WTO they watch much more carefully than they did before,

you have to go as near as possible to the people who want to punch you.

Both need to make efforts, and that is the issue that will allay concerns of many developing countries who want freer trade -- and things will be a lot better.

Europe and the United States are moving on farm issues. This is good news,

it would present us with problems far more profound than in the past, because unlike the others, the deadline is real.

It is the Europeans and the Americans that must budge,

Everyone - developing countries and developed countries - have to give a little ... in order to get this process moving forward, which will benefit everyone around the world.

I want to be very clear that we would have no alternative but to examine all options, both bilateral and multilateral, to protect our industry from the consequences of U.S. action.

The U.S. have taken useful steps ... there is much more to do.

The U.S. decision to go down the route of protectionism is a major setback for the world trading system,

They made a step forward in recognizing U.S. farm programs will have to be reformed.

I hope that this will convince them that it is worth taking further steps.

I now believe it is possible, which I did not a month ago.

By Hong Kong we need substantial results if we are to deliver on the promise of the Doha Development Agenda,

Clearly, we would all have liked to see a more operational text by now, but this is where we are. The current draft does not seek to establish a final balance here and now - that is for the end of the round, which is not where we are now.

Hong Kong is not just another Port of Call for Doha round negotiations, it is our best opportunity to bring the round to conclusion by the end of 2006.

Russia and Ukraine are candidates for the entry to the WTO and their dispute would be easy to understand and tackle if they are both members of this organization.

It is not so much the United States that is trying to push the European Union in one direction or another, it is developing nations as a whole that are pushing the United States and Europe to open their markets a little more.

To set us on the right course we need to create more opportunities for trade, particularly in developing countries, and we need to adjust global trade rules to better meet the needs of entrepreneurs in the 21st century,

It is not good news, but we have to face reality.

Globalization is incredibly efficient but also so far incredibly unjust.

Today we can be sure we are heading into the right direction. We managed to put the round back on track, after a long hibernation. But we are not there yet.

The EU will of course launch an immediate complaint in Geneva (at the WTO) against this clear violation of WTO rules and we will take whatever measures are necessary to safeguard our own market,