DOHA, April 22 (KUNA) -- Qatari Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Ahmad Al Mahmoud opened the World Trade Agenda Summit of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) on Monday.

The Summit - a major milestone for a business-led initiative which was launched in 2011 in partnership with Qatar Chamber of Commerce and Industry (QCCI), aims to define a practical and forward-looking trade policy agenda that could contribute to economic growth and job creation, and move the World Trade Organization (WTO) talks beyond the Doha Round.

Al Mahmoud said the Doha Round, also known as the Doha Development Agenda (DDA) which commenced in November, 2001, failed to realize the set objectives due to the insistence by the most industrialized countries on protectionist policies.

"The industrialized nations' adherence to the protectionist procedures and their insistence on demanding developing countries to cut custom tariffs on their industrial commodities has caused the global economy to lose at least USD 170 billion per year which would have been the expected increase in the volume of trade exchange in the event that the Doha agreement has been signed," Qatar News Agency quoted the minister as saying.

"The Doha Development Round was aimed to support the global economy and to help developing countries and Least Developed Countries (LDCs) to integrate into a balanced and just global economy in which disappear the barriers and customs restrictions and protectionist measures imposed by the major industrialized countries to protect their products and domestic markets." In contrast, he added, the developing countries are working to cut taxes and custom tariffs on goods imported from industrialized nations to increases the volume of trade between world countries.

He explained that the international trade agenda initiative, launched by the International Chamber of Commerce in conjunction with QCCI, aims to reach new global rules for trade and investment that leads the WTO to beyond the Doha Round.

Al Mahmoud stressed that this initiative was a significant event worth the mobilization of efforts not only to revive the round, which was launched in 2001, but even to enable the WTO achieve its objectives and create a balanced and fair global economy which provides everyone with equal opportunities in trade, investment and sustainable development.

"The establishment of a balanced, fair and multilateral global economy must take into account the needs, benefits and common interests of all its parties," he said, indicating that it is no longer acceptable to ask developing countries to cancel or reduce tariffs and open their markets to the products of the industrialized nations while the industrialized countries still impose protectionist restrictions hampering the entry of the products of those states to their markets.

Topics tabled on the agenda earn the summit strategic dimensions because they deal with the future of global trade and answer important questions about the business world needs from trade and from WTO and the way that should be taken towards a feasible trade in the 21st century, Al Mahmoud pointed out.

He hoped that the summit's agenda would be an approach and base for the return of the negotiations to the right track, pointing out that the most important and main objective of the WTO since its establishment in 1995, was to achieve real and balanced development for all member states through global trade liberalization.

Meanwhile, QCCI Chairman Sheikh Khalifa bin Jassem Al Thani highlighted the need to move the world economy to the zone of stability where equal rights and opportunities are ensured for all stakeholders.

Free trade and mutually-beneficial investment can be reached only through substantive dialogue involving major economies, governments and private sectors of all developed and developing countries, he said in a speech to the opening session of the three-day gathering.

"The negotiations must prioritize the common interests over the individual ones in order to ensure global economic stability," Sheikh Khalifa suggested.

If governments of the world countries used to draw their economic policies according to their individual interests, this is no longer acceptable in a globalized world where the private sector plays a major role in economic growth and has greater access to know-how and material resources, he pointed out.

Sheikh Khalifa added that the most industrialized countries should not monopolize the global economic decision-making process without taking into account the interests of the developing world.

On his part, ICC Chairman Gerard Worms said: "the ICC has consulted with business around the world to develop a set of practical steps for reaching a new trade consensus." "As the actors of trade in the daily marketplace, we are well placed to shed new light on stalled talks. We will mobilize CEOs around the world to make the case to national governments for this new trade agenda," Worms noted.

The initiative has developed five recommendations that could achieve tangible outcomes by the end of 2013, to harvest gains from the WTO's Doha Development Round.

These are Conclude a trade facilitation agreement; Implement duty-free and quota-free market access for exports from least-developed countries; phase out agricultural export subsidies; renounce food export restrictions; and expand trade in IT products and encourage growth of e-commerce worldwide," he disclosed.

Business recommendations from this event will be delivered to G20 leaders and WTO ministers ahead of the next G20 Summit in Saint Petersburg and the WTO Ministerial Conference in Bali later this year.

The Peterson Institute in Washington DC, recently studied ICC's Business World Trade Agenda, to quantify the potential benefits from the recommendations.

It is estimated that the payoff from liberalizing trade in services could generate world trade gains of USD 1.1 trillion, which would translate into global employment gains of nine million jobs. At the same time, a meaningful WTO agreement on liberalizing trade in environmental goods, even on a plurilateral basis, could deliver USD 10.3 billion of additional exports.

"The potential gains in terms of exports, jobs and GDP growth from multilateral trade liberalization are substantial," said Victor K Fung, ICC Honorary Chairman; Chairman, Fung Group.

"For these reasons, international business strongly encourages political leaders to steer clear of protectionism and nationalism - and return to building inclusive open trade to stimulate global recovery and growth for many years to come," Fung noted.

The year's ICC WCF Congress is the biggest international gathering of chambers and their business leaders. The event provides a unique opportunity for interaction among the global community of 12,000 chambers of commerce.

Peter Mihok, Chairman, ICC World Chambers Federation said: "Sharing a common belief that open markets can bring about positive change in the world we have converged in Doha to identify the challenges and opportunities brought about by shifts in the global economy and to help chambers and their business leaders adapt to them." The activities of the ICC World Trade Agenda Summit will last until April 25.