WTO agenda setting complicated<\/p>\n
SINGAPORE (JP): Singapore's Minister for Trade and Industry,
\nYeo Cheow Tong, suggested yesterday that rules be established to
\nguide countries in determining which issues are relevant to be
\ndiscussed at the World Trade Organization (WTO).<\/p>\n
Yeo told the closing session of the two-day World Trade
\nCongress here that without clear-cut rules, the first ministerial
\nmeeting of the WTO here in December might be overloaded with
\nirrelevant issues.<\/p>\n
Yeo pointed to the different stances between the developed and
\ndeveloping countries regarding emerging issues that should be
\nbrought up at the meeting.<\/p>\n
He said that several of the issues which have been raised --
\nmostly by the developed countries -- should be tested to
\nascertain their relevance to international trade.<\/p>\n
Among the most contentious issues preoccupying the discourses
\nduring the two-day meeting here were corruption, investment and
\ncompetition rules and labor standards.<\/p>\n
"The proponents of these issues should clearly and
\nunambiguously demonstrate their linkage with trade. Otherwise,
\nthey would not be relevant for discussion at the WTO meeting,"
\nYeo said.<\/p>\n
The emerging trade-related issues are among the five-point
\nagenda suggested by Singapore for the ministerial meeting. The
\nothers include a review of the implementation of commitments, an
\nendorsement of the results of negotiations in services, a report
\nfrom the Committee on Trade and Environment and the initiation of
\nthe preparatory process to advance work on built-in agenda.<\/p>\n
He emphasized the fear on the part of the developing countries
\nthat the issues on the proposed agenda might divert WTO from its
\nimportant task of implementing the agreements reached under the
\nUruguay Round negotiations, and of completing ongoing
\nnegotiations on unfinished business.<\/p>\n
"We need a mechanism to systematically evaluate and -- where
\nnecessary -- incrementally address emerging issues within the
\nWTO," he pointed out.<\/p>\n
He argued that even some issues which were trade-related
\nshould be addressed by the WTO in an innovative and educative
\nmanner to help raise awareness among members to a common level.<\/p>\n
The developed countries, however, see the upcoming ministerial
\nmeeting as the best opportunity to start negotiations on those
\nissues, because the next ministerial meeting would not take place
\nuntil 1998.<\/p>\n
"By waiting for subject matter that is of obvious relevance to
\ntrade liberalization, we would run the risk of the WTO to be
\ncaught lagging far behind the reality of economic integration,"
\nJean Pierre Landau, France's under-secretary for external
\neconomic relations at the ministry of economics and finance
\nargued yesterday.<\/p>\n
If that happened, Landau said, the WTO might become
\nprogressively irrelevant, whereas its main task is to be at the
\nforefront of the moves towards greater integration.vin)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/wto-agenda-setting-complicated-1447893297",
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