[asia-apec 489] Re: WTO: US warns cherry-picking on APEC free-trade plan dest...

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From: "Mark Ritchie" <mritchie at iatp.org>
Subject: WTO: US warns cherry-picking on APEC free-trade plan dest...
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>Date: Fri, 26 Jun 1998 00:18:40 -0700
>To: mritchie at iatp.org
>Subject: WTO: US warns cherry-picking on APEC free-trade plan dest...
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>          US warns cherry-picking on APEC free-trade plan destructive
     
>                        (Agence France-Presse; 06/22/98)
     
>
>    KUCHING, Malaysia, June 22 (AFP) - US Trade Representative Charlene  
>Barshefsky warned Monday that APEC's plans to free-up trade in nine
priority  
>areas would be destroyed if its 18 member-economies do not move together.
>
>   Speaking to reporters at the end of the first day of the annual trade  
>ministers' meeting, Barchefsky said plans to accelerate trade
liberalisation in 
> the nine areas must "move as a package.
>
>   "If countries want flexibility and define it as opting out of sectors,  
>having more product exclusions than inclusions, that is obviously
destructive  
>to the process," she said.
>
>   "Flexibility should be provided but it cannot weaken the initiative in
any  
>respect."
>
>   She acknowledged that some countries may have reservations in "sensitive  
>areas" but that was acceptable "so long as it is not routine, exceptions
do not 
> dominate and that the overall package are mutually beneficial."
>
>   "I wouldn't get too caught up in the lingo," she said. What we want is  
>simply the assurance that at the very end of the day, we are all roughly
in the 
> same place but the timing can be quite different."
>
>   While it may be "politically difficult" for the United States and Japan  
>given their size, she stressed that the two have "a special responsibility
to  
>move forward 100 percent.
>
>   "We will come out of Kuching quite well-positioned to move forward on
these  
>initiatives and ultimately take them to the **WTO** so we can get a larger 
>group of  economies participating," she added.
>
>   The United States and Japan have been at odds over the group's so-called  
>early voluntary sectoral liberalisation plan, especially in two of the
sectors  
>Tokyo is most sensitive about -- fish and forest products.
>
>   During the Vancouver summit last November, APEC leaders asked trade  
>ministers to "finalise detailed targets and timelines" for the
liberalisation  
>plan in time for this week's meeting in Kuching.
>
>   But senior trade officials meeting ahead of the ministerial talks  
>effectively deferred the deadline by three months.
>
>   A US senior official warned that "if flexibility becomes just a
pseudonym  
>for cherry-picking, that is unacceptable," saying it was vital for the  
>"integrity and the principle of liberalisation" to be maintained.
>
>   "We want to make sure that the consensus to continue down that road is
held  
>intact and that no one submarines it," he added.
>
>   The plan by the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum (APEC) for early  
>voluntary liberalisation involves trade in nine priority sectors by next
year  
>and six others.
>
>   Apart from fish and forest products, other priorities include chemicals,  
>energy, environmental goods and services, gems and jewellery, medical
equipment 
> and toys.
>
>   The ninth priority sector, telecommunications, has already been settled
with 
> a ministerial agreement on mutual recognition arrangements in Singapore
this  
>month.
>
>   APEC groups Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong,
Indonesia,  
>Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, the  
>Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and the United States. Russia,
Vietnam 
> and Peru are set to join the group in November.
>
>   en/nj
>
>(Copyright 1998)
>
>                    _____via IntellX_____
>
>{A1:AgenceFrancePresse-0622.02102}   06/22/98
>
>
>
>
>______________________________________________________________________
>
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Mark Ritchie, President
Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy
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mritchie at iatp.org      http://www.iatp.org