WTO trade deal must include services - lobbyists

By Jonathan Lynn

GENEVA (Reuters) - A new world trade deal may not be accepted if it does not do justice to services, which make up the bulk of economic output, lobby groups said on Thursday.

The key to this is greater involvement in services issues by ministers and political leaders, the lobbyists from a range of countries told reporters after meeting World Trade Organisation (WTO) director-general Pascal Lamy and WTO ambassadors.

Negotiations in the Doha round of world trade talks have focused in recent weeks on improving market access for farm and manufactured goods, the latter known in the WTO as NAMA.

These have been based on draft texts issued in July by the chairmen of the agriculture and industry negotiating groups.

Trade diplomats say that if progress is made, these texts could be issued in revised form next month allowing ministers to agree the outlines of a comprehensive trade deal in November.

"The Doha round needs to deliver results on services that are on a par with those that are expected for agriculture and NAMA," said Sergio Marchi, who chairs the Global Services Coalition grouping a dozen service industry associations.

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