July 18, 2005
IN THIS ALERT:

UPCOMING EVENTS         

Mini-Ministerial Fails to Agree on Steps to Advance Services, Other Elements of Doha Round

A WTO Mini-Ministerial held in Dalian, China on July 12-13 vowed to intensify work toward concluding the Doha Round talks by the end of next year, but failed to agree on possible specific solutions to outstanding issues in services as well as agriculture and nonagricultural market access. At its conclusion, the co-chairmen said that the Ministers deplored the low "level of engagement" in terms of the number and content of initial and revised services offers.  (There are currently 69 initial offers and 24 revised offers on the table).  They sense "that quite a large number of ministers consider that the present process will not yield a balanced and substantive outcome for this round" and therefore have "asked the chair of the [Council on Trade in Services] Special Session to undertake intensive consultations in order to enhance the bilateral request-and-offer process and to explore other approaches."  Click here to view the statement.

Supachai: "These Negotiations are in Trouble"

On July 8, WTO Director-General Supachai Panitchpakdi called on Ambassadors in an informal meeting to immediately change gear in the trade negotiations, stressing that "progress is nowhere near sufficient in terms of our critical path to Hong Kong". He said that there is still a "slender chance" of averting a crisis, "but every hour must be made to count". Click here to view the statement.

WTO Releases 2005 World Trade Report

The WTO's recently released annual World Trade Report includes analytical essays on off-shoring services, air transport services, and the use of quantitative economic analysis in dispute settlement. It also discusses the international trade impact of the application of technical standards by national governments.  In a section on world trade flows, it notes that global trade in services increased by 16% in nominal terms last year, driven largely by surprisingly strong global economic growth.  Click here to view the report. 

Joint Statement on the Negotiations on Audiovisual Services

On June 30, Hong Kong, Japan, Mexico, Taiwan, and the US issued a joint statement on the audiovisual services negotiations (TN/S/W/49). The statement discusses the benefits of audiovisual services liberalization, including the promotion of cultural diversity, and expresses concern over efforts by some members to create a prior exclusion for this sector.  Click here to view the statement.

Joint Statement on Liberalization of Telecommunications Services

On July 1, Australia, Canada, the EU, Japan, Hong Kong, Korea, Norway, Singapore, Taiwan, and the US issued a statement on the liberalization of telecommunications services (TN/S/W/50). The paper points out that telecommunications networks and services are important economic drivers in their own right, but are also key enablers of international trade.  Click here to view the statement.