By Omoh Gabriel
LAGOS — Minster of Trade and Investment Dr. Olusegun Aganga, has said the just concluded World Trade Organisation, WTO, talks in Geneva have improved the atmosphere and outlook for a deal.

Speaking at the World Trade Organisation which closed its biennial ministerial conference on Saturday as its chairman, Aganga cited an improved atmosphere in the 153-member club but no concrete moves forward on the Doha round of world trade talks.

Aganga acknowledged in a “chairman’s statement” the least ambitious form of resolution, that the negotiations were stuck, with “significantly different perspectives on the possible results that members can achieve in certain areas.”

But speaking for himself, Aganga said constructive dialogue between ministers over the three-day meeting had improved the atmosphere and outlook for the WTO.

The eighth WTO Ministerial Conference which ended on Saturday night in Geneva, Switzerland saw an enhanced trade and investment prospects for Nigeria.

The United States Trade Representative, Ambassador Ronald Kirk, said in an interview with reporters on the sidelines of the meetings that he was impressed by the leadership style of the Chairman of the Ministerial Conference, Aganga, adding that his “calm and thorough approach” to tackling issues arising between the member countries had made the conference fruitful irrespective of the obvious bottlenecks.

Nigeria made history this year as the first African nation to chair the conference since the establishment of the WTO 16 years ago. Kirk, who is a former Mayor of Dallas, said Nigeria would benefit greatly from this opportunity in terms of strong trade and investment relationships with other countries of the world as well as other benefits of the World Trade Organisation, noting that “it shows the leadership quality in Nigeria.”

Indonesian Minister of Trade, Mr. Gita Wirjawan, said during a bilateral meeting with Aganga, the quality participation of Nigeria in this year’s conference had enhanced the confidence of his country in the Nigerian economy.

Wirjawan added that he would lead a trade delegation to Nigeria in February 2012 with the aim of striking huge, mutually beneficial investment deals with Nigeria, noting that he was happy that a developing country chaired the conference for the first time and managed the MC8 very well.

He said the fact that an African country, Nigeria, chaired a peaceful and fruitful WTO ministerial conference was enough to enhance the confidence of countries in Nigeria, noting that the two countries must work together to ensure an improvement in the trade volume between them.

The South African Trade and Industry Minister, Dr. Rob Davies, also commended Nigeria’s leadership of the WTO ministerial conference, saying that President Goodluck Jonathan assembled the best brains in his cabinet. He said he looked forward to good fruits from the deliberations at the WTO conference, saying that member countries had a lot to gain, going forward.

On his part, Aganga said, “This is a great opportunity for Nigeria and it doesn’t come everytime. There are over 153 countries here from all over the world and you know what that means for trade relationships and investment. We have had a lot of bilateral meetings here and everyone is interested in coming to Nigeria to see things by themselves and invest in the country.

“We have had good meetings at the WTO conference and the issues raised have been amicably resolved. We have also commenced talks to establish trade and investment councils in about five other countries, apart from Australia.

The trade ministers of Indonesia and Hong Kong have indicated their interests in seeing that through.” The Chairman of the WTO General Council, Ambassador Yonov Agah, said, “The MC8 is taking place at a very difficult time, when there are significant differences among the members based on substance.

Against this background, the preparatory process, which Nigeria led, focused on trying to build consensus on broad elements that all members can agree on and would be comfortable to live with.

“The risk of trying to allow people to put in specific issues of interest to them, which could have led to cross-linkages and the creation of a Christmas tree, or wish list was also recognized, more so, as this could have become unmanageable, thereby affecting a positive outcome of the conference. But the conference has been a success, as reported by the local and foreign media.”