Asia sees hurdles for new WTO talks

Asia sees hurdles for new WTO talks

HANOI (Reuters): While Southeast Asian countries back the launching of a new trade round they see major hurdles that need to be overcome if that is to happen in Qatar in November, Thai and Philippine officials said on Friday.

"ASEAN has already said we can support the launching of the new round," Philippines assistant secretary for trade, Jose Antonio Buencamino, told reporters ahead of a meeting of Asia- Europe trade and economics ministers in Hanoi next week.

"That's not the issue," he said. "The issue is: 'Is the prospect bright enough for launching?'. In our assessment, the prospects are not bright right now, but the prospects persist."

Trade ministers from the 141 WTO member countries will meet in Doha, Qatar, on November 9-13, with many of them hoping a new trade round can be launched there.

Buencamino described two changes to WTO rules proposed by industrialized nations, covering foreign investment and the environment, as "non-starters".

He said there were fears the investment proposals would circumscribe the rights of governments. "If that is the case, I don't think we can agree to that," he said.

Manila would have "very serious problems" with a European Union white paper on food safety, he said.

"The objective is to be able to direct how food is produced, the way it is distributed, until it reaches the tables of the consumer," Buencamino said. "On the basis of what? Political sensitivities; not just science and consumer concerns.

"We might as well talk about everything under the sun in the WTO if non-trade issues can come in just like that."

The director-general of the Thai Commerce Ministry's Department of Business Economics, Boontipa Simaskul, said Bangkok would like to see the announcement of a new trade round in Qatar.

"But somehow, we also find there are positions that are quite far apart, particularly in the five issues -- environment, investment, competition policy, implementation and agriculture."

Boontipa said ministers from Asia and Europe would aim to narrow differences in two days of meetings in Hanoi from Monday.

"If both of us can be flexible to help bridge the gap, then it will somehow help the launching of the new round," she said. "(There's) not much time left. No one can tell if there will be a new round or not, but we will try to work on it."

Last weekend, trade ministers from the United States and the European Union said after a meeting in Mexico of rich and developing countries that they saw an improved chance of launching world trade talks this year.

But last month seven South Asian countries -- India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, the Maldives and Bhutan -- said a new round should not be held until previous commitments were met.

India said the previous Uruguay Round of 1994 had brought hardly any worthwhile gains to developing countries even though they had been told they stood to benefit massively.

Vietnam, which is not a WTO member, also called earlier this week for proper implementation of existing agreements.

A week-long series of meetings in Hanoi on trade and investment will involve 15 European countries, the 10 member Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and the United States.

Buencamino said ASEAN countries would have to work hard to change the dimmed European perception of their region as an investment destination, although he expected little in the way of concrete initiatives to emerge from the talks.

"The Europeans themselves are saying 'the region has to do something to keep our attention'," he said. "It's not on the agenda, but the whole Asia region needs to be integrated, that's the answer."