[asia-apec 1463] NZ Trade Minister's spin on APEC/WTO

[APEC Monitoring Group]

WTO Process Reinvigorated
Press Release New Zealand Government 8/06/00 11:07:00 

Asia Pacific trade ministers have agreed an ambitious programme of measures to prepare the way for a World Trade Organisation round of talks, Trade Negotiations Minister Jim Sutton said today. 


"We have made great progress here, in Darwin, under the excellent chairing of Mark Vaile, to put the multilateral process back on track," Mr Sutton said. 


The meeting, which finished last night, was the first major trade meeting since the failed WTO meeting in Seattle late last year. 


"We have agreed an ambitious programme of measures to prepare the way for the early launch of a WTO Round." 


The programme includes: 


* calling for preparatory work on industrial tariffs in the WTO ? including the key New Zealand interest areas of fish and forest products; 


* encouraging meaningful progress in the WTO negotiations on agriculture and services, including the objective set last year to seek the abolition of agricultural export subsidies; 


* adopting a strategic plan to build to build capacity for developing economies; and 


* agreeing an APEC wide moratorium on the imposition of customs duties on electronic transactions. 


"Beyond the WTO, we have sent a strong message to officials to lift their game in addressing non-tariff measures. An excellent APEC study has just identified the negative impact these measures can have on the forest products sector," Mr Sutton said. 


"We also spent some time talking about the increasing activity on the Regional Trading Arrangement front in the region, such as our negotiation with Singapore. We agreed on the importance of these negotiations being consistent with the WTO and being in line with the APEC architecture in order to achieve APEC goals." 


The meeting had a strong focus on business facilitation. Initiatives were launched on a business website, BizAPEC.com, and on an electronic system for accessing information on APEC economy Individual Action Plans. 


"More generally I was impressed by the breadth of APEC activity designed to build capacity of institutions and people across the region. This is a major element of Brunei's work this year as APEC Chair. I am looking forward to seeing the development of these initiatives by the time of the final meetings in Brunei in November." Mr Sutton said. 


Mr Sutton returns to New Zealand tomorrow (Friday). 


ENDS