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Geneva. The World Trade Organization on Friday raised its forecast for growth of global commerce to 10 percent this year, with its director general saying that even that might yet “turn out to be too low.”

WTO chief Pascal Lamy said: “Our forecast for world trade this year is plus 10 percent in volume after the minus 12” percent registered in 2009.

Lamy was speaking to reporters at the launch of the international trade body’s annual report on the sidelines of the Shanghai World Expo.

In a separate speech at Shanghai’s Institute of Foreign Trade, the WTO’s director general said that after last year’s dramatic slump, “trade growth is coming back fast, thanks in no small measure to the continuing dynamism of China and the others.”

“Unless there are unanticipated negative economic impacts in the second half of 2010, this estimate [of 10 percent] may even turn out to be too low,” he added.

The WTO’s latest forecast marks a rise from the 9.5 percent issued in March. The secretariat had warned then that the figure could prove too optimistic as markets were at that point unsettled by Europe’s sovereign debt crisis.

In its report, the WTO focused on trade in natural resources.

It called for greater global cooperation on such trade, warning that a failure to work together could spark new tensions.

“I believe not only that there is room for mutually beneficial negotiating trade-offs that encompass natural resources trade, but also that a failure to address these issues could be a recipe for growing tension in international trade relations,” Lamy wrote in the report.

The value of world trade in natural resources — including fisheries, fuels, forestry products and mining — reached $3.7 trillion in 2008, close to a quarter of world merchandise trade.

Trade in such products had surged more than six-fold between 1998 and 2008 mainly due to sharp rises in fuel prices, noted the WTO.

Russia topped the list of leading natural resource exporters, with a share of 9.1 percent in 2008. Saudi Arabia was next, with a share of 7.6 percent.

The United States is the biggest importer, buying some 15.2 percent of natural resources traded in 2008.

Japan was the next biggest importer with 9.1 percent and China a close third with 8.6 percent.

But as natural resources are finite or require time for replenishment, resource-rich countries typically restrict their export volumes through export taxes or quotas, the WTO said.

Such measures help to improve resource conservation and can help push countries to diversify their exports away from natural resources.

However, the WTO warned that such trade barriers could be problematic, leading to retaliation or rising prices.

Rather, Lamy pushed for “well-designed trade rules” to address environmental protection and management of countries’ natural resources.

“We would greatly enhance our chances of positive action in this area if we were to come to a prompt closure of the Doha Round,” he said, referring to the long-stalled trade talks for a global free trade deal.

Launched in 2001 in the Qatari capital, the talks have foundered as developed countries and developing ones fail to agree on lowering tariffs and subsidies.

While not specifically targeting natural resources trade, the Doha package includes pertinent issues like fisheries subsidies.


Agence France-Presse