Bridges Weekly Trade News Digest • Volume 9 • Number 2 • 26th January 2005
FOUR WTO MINI-MINISTERIALS PLANNED FOR 2005
"FRIENDS" GROUP MEETS ON ANTI-DUMPING TO PREPARE FOR RULES TALKS
A group of countries sharing a common interest in tightening rules governing anti-dumping investigations and measures met in Geneva from 18-20 January to strategise ahead of negotiations during the upcoming year. The group agreed to keep anti-dumping high on the agenda, describing it as a market access issue of equal importance to those being negotiated by the agriculture and non-agricultural market access (NAMA) groups.
The group also discussed — without agreeing to go ahead — whether to issue a text compiling the 22 submissions the group had made since negotiations began and whether to prioritise among issues. Following the meeting, some participants noted that with the liberalisation of international textiles trade, some countries are becoming more concerned about the right to maintain effective WTO-compliant antidumping measures to shield from cheap imports. The "Friends of Anti-dumping Negotiations" include Brazil, Canada, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Singapore, Hong Kong, Mexico, Chile, Costa Rica, Israel, Norway, Switzerland, India and Colombia. The US remains at the opposite camp, considering the right to use anti-dumping measures to be a high priority in ongoing talks.
The next meeting of the Negotiating Group on Rules, which covers antidumping and subsidies and countervailing measures, is scheduled for 21-23 February.
"Senior ‘Friends’ Group Officials Hold Talks On Advancing WTO Antidumping Negotiations," WTO REPORTER, 24 January 2005.
Trade Ministers from the US, EU, Brazil, India, Australia, Canada, Japan, Kenya and Switzerland will meet on 29 January during the annual summit of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland for a three-hour ‘mini-ministerial’ meeting on the Doha Round of WTO negotiations. The Swiss government, which is hosting the talks, refuses to describe the short meeting as a substantive ‘mini-ministerial.’ It suggests that the session will only involve a ’stock-taking’ of the negotiations thus far, and discussion of preparations and objectives for the December 2005 WTO Ministerial Conference in Hong Kong.
At the meeting Kenyan trade minister Mukhisa Kituyi is expected to hand out invitations for the first full-length mini-ministerial, due to take place on 2-4 March in Kenya, to a similar group of countries.
A mini-ministerial is also planned for the sidelines of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s annual ministerial gathering on 3-4 May. Although China declined the invitation to the Davos mini-ministerial, it has offered to host a mini-ministerial in late June/early July or in September.
"Ministerial Officials Play Down Prospects For WTO Mini-Ministerial in Davos," WTO REPORTER, 25 January 2005.