Bridges Weekly Trade News Digest • Volume 9 • Number 20 • 8th June 2005
APEC Trade Ministers Discuss WTO, Regional Trade
Trade ministers from the 21 members of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum jointly expressed their "grave concern" with the slow progress of the Doha Round trade negotiations at a 2-3 June meeting in Jeju, Korea (see BRIDGES Weekly, 1 June 2005). A ministerial statement issued at the end of the meeting expressed their commitment to work "with a sense of utmost urgency" to move the talks forward.
Most significantly, the ministers from the diverse group of Pacific Rim countries, which account for nearly half of both the global population and world trade, agreed that the "Swiss formula" approach should be used in the Doha negotiations for calculating tariff reductions in non-agricultural market access (NAMA; see related story, same issue). In their declaration, they also called for a critical mass of market-opening offers in the services negotiations; and within agriculture, the development of a common understanding of the "core elements of the modalities." Additionally, the group urged work on trade facilitation to identify possible elements of a final outcome, thereby, enabling members to "expedite the movement, release and clearance of goods."
During the two-day trade minister meeting, delegates also looked at the progress of APEC’s "Bogor Goals" of free trade and investment flows in the region by 2010 for industrialised economies and 2020 for developing economies. In a statement at the conclusion of the forum, Chair Hyun Chong Kim, Korea’s trade minister, noted that APEC economies had made "huge strides in opening and liberalising their economies," but the Pacific Rim community will need new midterm goals if it wants to "keep pace with the rapidly evolving trade and investment agenda."
Kim also noted the rapid spread of regional and bilateral trade agreements in the APEC region. He said that participants agreed that "high quality" trade pacts promoted the Bogor Goals. They also concurred that applying a set of ‘best practices’ for such deals agreed to by APEC members last year would improve the quality of future accords.
Speaking at a press conference at the close of the meeting, US Trade Representative Rob Portman was particularly pleased with ministers’ agreement on parameters for the WTO NAMA negotiations, which have been stalled due to differences of opinion on how to proceed. There is now a "group of 21 economies representing most of the world’s trade…" he said, "agreeing on a specific formula to be able to address one of the toughest issues in the WTO… By adopting the Swiss formula, we have provided important encouragement to the [Doha] talks in Geneva."
ICTSD reporting; "Manila shuns APEC lobby for reduction in global tariffs," THE MANILA TIMES, 6 June 2005; "APEC Trade Ministers Boost WTO Talks," WTO REPORTER, 6 June 2005; "Ministerial Statement on Doha Development Agenda Negotiations," APEC PRESS RELEASE, 3 June 2005; " Meeting of APEC Ministers Responsible for Trade: Statement of the Chair," APEC PRESS RELEASE, 3 June 2005; "APEC agrees formula for cuts in tariffs," FINANCIAL TIMES, 3 June 2005.