US confident WTO talks will resume in July

The US is confident that the stalled World Trade Organization (WTO) talks will resume in July, as member-countries are exerting more efforts to iron out their differences regarding export subsidies.

In a statement released by the American embassy in Manila, US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick said the progress on agriculture trade reform requires that all WTO members to agree to eliminate exports subsidies, including export credits, end state-trading monopolies and discipline food aid in a way that still enables countries to meet vital humanitarian needs.

The current Doha Round of WTO negotiations that started in 2001, reached an impasse last September 2003 when a group of more than 20 developing countries led by Philippines and Indonesia, including the Philippines, collided with the rich countries over export subsidies and the so-called Singapore issues.

Singapore issues include trade facilitation, investment, competition and transparency in government procurement.

Zoellick said the US urged WTO members in 2002 to scrap export farm subsidies, reduce and harmonize trade-distorting domestic supports. The US also pushed for both developed and developing countries to increase market access for agricultural products.

The European Union also said that it is prepared to let go of its export subsidies in exchange of greater market access for its products.

The Department of Agriculture welcomed the turnaround of the global economic giants but added these will have to be their official unqualified position when discussions resume.

"Definitely, this is a positive development, but we have to see what is on the table," said Assistant Agriculture Secretary Segfredo R. Serrano.

Developing countries which last year formed the Group of 20 in the talks in Cancun, Mexico, want to push the so-called "dual" approach or the unified "tiered" approach instead of the "blended" formula being proposed by the US and EU.

The US and EU want the global elimination of tariffs on consumer and industrial goods by 2015, hefty reductions in farm tariffs and trade-distorting subsidies and broad opening of services markets.

The US also stressed its resolve to achieve trade liberalization by signing regional and bilateral free trade agreements (FTAs) with its trading partners.

"Remember that in the WTO, it takes only one member to derail the process. We do not want to be held hostage to any one of 147 economies," Zoellick said, in explaining the US strategy to push FTAs.

The US already signed FTAs with Central America, Morocco, Australia, Chile and Singapore and is now pursuing similar arrangements with the whole of American continent, Thailand, Colombia, Japan, European Union and Middle East and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean).

Zoellick said the US is set to negotiate Trade and Investment Framework Agreements (TIFAs) and Bilateral Investment Treaties (BITs) with Asean, particularly the Philippines, Indonesia and Brunei.

The US described TIFAs and BITs as customized arrangements that seek to resolve trade and investment issues to improve performance in areas such as intellectual property rights and customs enforcement to lay the groundwork for a possible FTA.

"The US is using TIFAs with the Philippines, Indonesia and Brunei to solve practical trade problems, build closer bilateral trade ties and work toward possible FTAs," Zoellick said. – Rocel Felix