Developing nations should prepare for services talks
Developing nations should prepare for services talks
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
While the hottest talks at the recent World Trade Organization
ministerial meeting were on agricultural, it is actually the
opening up of more non-agricultural and services sectors that
developing countries must prepare themselves for, activists say.
Aside from agreeing on a deadline for cutting market-
distorting agricultural subsidies, trade ministries in Hong Kong
also agreed on a set of deadlines for the opening up of the
services sector and other non-agricultural sectors.
"The adoption of this approach could be potentially
devastating for the industrial development prospects of
developing countries," Chee Yoke Ling, spokesperson for non-
governmental organization Third World Network (TWN), said last
week.
Meanwhile, on the services proposal, developed countries will
intensify their pressure on developing countries to liberalize
their services sectors, Chee said.
Group members have agreed that, in addition to the current
bilateral negotiations, the request-offer negotiations on
services could be pursued on a plurilateral basis. Based on such
an approach, a group of countries can request another country to
open talks on providing market access to its services sector.
The Hong Kong meeting also agreed that groups of members
presenting plurilateral requests to other members should submit
such requests by Feb. 28, 2006.
A second round of revised offers shall be submitted by July
31, 2006 while final draft schedules of commitments shall be
submitted by Oct. 31, 2006.
"Developing and poor countries, including Indonesia, must
understand that the special and differential treatment they get
in agricultural is their right," said Ludfia Hanim from non-
governmental organization Institute for Global Justice.
"This should not be traded away by recklessly opening up other
sectors," she added.
Indonesian WTO negotiator Delima Azahari said earlier that her
team had clearly stated that the agricultural deals were stand-
alone and would not be traded away for improved market access in
the non-agricultural and services sectors.
Ludfia said that the new set of deadlines and new approaches
to the talks on the services sector should alert Indonesia and
other developing countries.
"Indonesia needs to assess which services it is going to open
up and how wide," she said, suggesting the sectors related to
public welfare like education and health should not be fully
liberalized.
Ludfia said that as to date no assessments had been conducted
to serve as a basis for the country to start talks on the
services sector.