International Trade Daily | By Gary G. Yerkey | October 10, 2001
The United States and some 20 other countries expect to narrow their differences over the agenda for the next round of multilateral trade talks at a "mini-ministerial" meeting of the World Trade Organization being held in Singapore Oct. 13-14, a senior U.S. official said Oct. 9.
Alan P. Larson, undersecretary of state for economic, business, and agricultural affairs, said that the meeting will provide an opportunity for negotiators to build on the work they did at the first "mini-ministerial," which was held in Mexico City Aug. 31-Sept. 1.
Larson said that the negotiators in Singapore will be working from the draft ministerial declaration and implementation text provided to WTO member countries in Geneva last month by WTO General Council Chairman Stuart Harbinson.
"There's a lot of work to be done," Larson said.
Developing countries led by India, Pakistan, and many African nations have been critical of the Harbinson draft implementation text, arguing that their concerns over the application of WTO antidumping rules and improved market access for textile exports have not been take into account.
Some countries have also expressed concern that the notably contentious issue of agriculture was not dealt with in any detail in the draft ministerial declaration, which seeks to set out an agenda for the new WTO multilateral trade talks--although Harbinson Oct. 8 circulated a proposed text that met with some approval among WTO countries in Geneva this week.
Differences also continue to exist--particularly between the United States and the EU--over how to deal with the interrelationship between trade and environmental protection in the WTO.
A delegation led by Trade Representative Robert B. Zoellick will represent the United States at the meeting, to be attended by trade ministers from other countries including Japan, India, Brazil, Singapore, and Canada, as well as the European Union.
Officials said that Zoellick is expected to meet separately with European Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy and other trade ministers while in Singapore.
Zoellick will also be participating in a meeting of trade ministers from the 21 economies of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum Oct. 17-18 in Shanghai, China, where, according to Larson, APEC leaders including President Bush can be expected to issue a "very, very strong" call for further global trade liberalization at their meeting Oct. 20-21.
Larson, speaking at a press briefing, said that the United States was "pulling together all of the resources at our disposal" to ensure that new WTO trade negotiations, in fact, will be launched as planned at a ministerial meeting of all WTO member countries, scheduled for Nov. 9-13.
He said that the United States still expects the ministerial meeting to be held in Doha, Qatar, despite security concerns that have emerged in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
"We want to see a new round launched," Larson said. "We want to launch it this year. And when [and wherever] this meeting takes place, we're going to show up. ..."
Larson said that trade ministers attending next weekend's "mini-ministerial" in Singapore--"outside of the glare of television cameras"--will likely narrow their differences in the run-up to the Doha meeting.
"It's an opportunity ... for the ministers to look hard at the progress that's been achieved--certainly to look at these Harbinson texts--identify what needs to be done in terms of narrowing any gaps between trading partners, and identify any situations where an individual country's posture seems to be at variance [with] where the emerging common ground lies," Larson said.
He said that the Singapore meeting will be part of a "consensus-building process" that stands in sharp contrast to two years ago, when WTO member countries attempted but failed to launch new global trade talks at a WTO meeting in Seattle, Wash.
NAM Opens Push for 'Zero-for-Zero.'
The National Association of Manufacturers, meanwhile, announced a new initiative Oct. 8, aimed at reducing industrial tariffs in the next round of WTO trade talks.
"Manufacturing accounts for over 75 percent of all goods traded globally," said Franklin J. Vargo, vice president for international economic affairs at NAM. "But we still face high tariffs in many countries, and eliminating those barriers would create a major impetus for global economic growth."
NAM said in a press release that the organization has formed a WTO Industrial Tariff Working Group to develop the initiative--based on a "zero-for-zero" strategy under which nations accounting for the preponderance of trade in particular industrial sectors would agree to eliminate import tariffs on those goods--and to work with "like-minded" associations and industries in other countries.
The working group will be chaired by Maureen Smith, international vice president for the American Forest & Paper Association, who said that the goal was to convince a number of countries to agree at the WTO ministerial meeting in Qatar to pursue "zero-for-zero" negotiations for all sectors in which a consensus can be reached.
"We want to see the first round of zero-for-zero agreements concluded within one year of the ministerial conference," Smith said, "and then implemented immediately on a provisional basis."
Copyright c 2001 by The Bureau of National Affairs, Inc., Washington D.C.International Trade Daily:
