Switzerland looks to free trade accords after WTO failure

Switzerland is looking to boost its free trade accords with other countries following the collapse of world trade talks, the country's top economics official said on Sunday.

With the stalemate of the Doha Round of global trade talks, Switzerland has to consider bilateral free trade agreements as the "second best solution," Jean-Daniel Gerber, head of the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (Seco), said in a newspaper interview.

The Doha Round collapsed in July after the breakdown of negotiations in Geneva between the six leading members of the World Trade Organization.

Analysts said the last-ditch talks between the European Union, the United States, Japan, Brazil, Australia and India failed due to the intransigence of Washington and Brussels to give ground on agriculture.

Switzerland, which has a strong farmers lobby, has always rejected WTO calls to lower farm subsidies and import tariffs on agricultural products, but has pushed for liberalization of services and lower tariffs for industry.

In an interview in the German-language SonntagsZeitung, Gerber said the impasse at the WTO had prompted Seco to reconsider its foreign trade policy.

"Now we have to strive for the second best solution and that is free trade agreements," he told the newspaper.

Seco has restarted negotiations with Canada on the issue and is hoping to conclude an accord by early next year, he said.

Earlier this year, hopes of serious negotiations on such a Swiss-U.S. free trade accord were dashed over differences on agriculture.

Gerber added that Switzerland was also working with Thailand, Egypt and members of the Gulf Cooperation Council - United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman and Qatar - to find free trade solutions. Japan is also on the agenda.

Source: Xinhua