| ||||
|
|
WTO negotiators told to get serious
GENEVA (AP)--Governments trying to agree on a sweeping accord to liberalize global commerce must step up efforts to reach a deal on service industries, such as banking, telecommunications and transport, a senior World Trade Organization official said Dec. 3.
"The picture isn't very good," said Hamid Mamdouh, director of the WTO Trade in Services Division. "The most acute problem is that time is running out."
The WTO's 148 member governments are trying to energize the round of trade talks they started in Doha, Qatar, in 2001, aimed at slashing subsidies, tariffs and other barriers to global commerce--including rules restricting access for foreign service providers. They are hoping a conference in December 2005 in Hong Kong will cap talks, leading to a final treaty in 2006.
"We need to think very carefully about how 2005 is going to be utilized," Mamdouh said. "It's going to be the year of heavy lifting."
A WTO conference in Cancun, Mexico, in September 2003 was meant to spur the round but collapsed, mainly because of bickering over farm trade rules.
However, high-level meetings in Geneva last summer breathed life back into the round when it finally led to the so-called "July Package," a framework deal that was actually finalized Aug. 1. It laid some groundwork on cutting tariffs and subsidies in agricultural trade even though it left the technical fine-tuning to meetings stretching into next year.
The agreement contained looser language on trade in industrial goods and in services, which are now lagging behind agriculture, raising concerns that this could hold up the entire deal.
Services negotiators who gathered for closed-door talks at WTO headquarters in Geneva in early December were less optimistic than in September, when they met several weeks after the farm trade deal, Mamdouh said.
"I think that perhaps in September, people were relieved that the threat of a crisis had been averted by the adoption of the July decision. But the absence of a crisis is itself not sufficient. What we need is progress."
Under the 2001 Doha agreement, governments were supposed to submit by April 2003 offers to liberalize their service industries.
But only 12 did so, including Japan, Australia, Canada, Taiwan and the United States. The European Union submitted its offer several weeks after the deadline, while other key players including India and Brazil handed in theirs later the same year.
Under the July accord, the deadline was extended to May 2005, but around 40 countries still haven't filed offers. Most are poor nations which have long been reluctant to focus on services until they get solid concessions on agriculture from rich WTO members.
"Services have not been getting the appropriate attention in capitals," said Mamdouh.
"The challenge is how to mobilize political will. Services don't seem to be on the radar screen in many countries," he said, declining to single out any nation.
Copyright 1995-2008. High Plains Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. Any republishing of these pages, including electronic reproduction of the editorial archives or classified advertising, is strictly prohibited. If you have questions or comments you can reach us at High Plains Journal 1500 E. Wyatt Earp Blvd., P.O. Box 760, Dodge City, KS 67801 or call 1-800-452-7171. Email: webmaster@hpj.com
 
| |||||||||||||||||||
