The Hindu Business Line : New proposal put out for easing trade in services

New Delhi, May 26 Following the revised negotiating texts on agriculture and industrial goods, the World Trade Organisation (WTO) issued last week, a new proposal for freeing up trade in services ranging from air transport to banking and telecom as part of a global deal was announced in Geneva today.

A WTO trade envoy from Mexico, Ambassador Fernando de Mateo Venturini, who chairs WTO talks on services in the Doha round of negotiations to open up world trade said that his report is based on consultations carried out by the Chair since his previous report was issued on February 13, 2008.

Participating members recognised that an ambitious and balanced outcome in services would be integral to the overall balance in the results of the DDA single undertaking

He said that “further discussions is needed on certain issues pertaining to participants’ level of ambition, their willingness to bind existing and improved levels of market access and national treatment, as well as specific references to Modes 1 (cross border supply of services) and Modes 4 (presence of natural persons as service providers)”.

These are sectors of export interest to the developing countries and India has been keenly awaiting the offers from other members in these twin modes as they are of strategic significance to India’s success in outsourcing activities in IT , official sources told Business Line here.

In a draft annex to the report which could form the basis for a deal on services, Mr Mateo said that “members shared the view that substantial efforts were needed to reach a successful conclusion of the negotiations”.

On a parallel track, the Chair of the Trade Negotiations Committee (TNC) would chair a “signalling exercise” among a group of ministers, to take place at the time that “modalities” in agriculture and non-agricultural market access (NAMA) are agreed.

At the signalling exercise, participating ministers would signal how they might improve their services offers. Subsequently, the TNC Chair would present an oral report on this exercise to the TNC. The aim of the signalling exercise is to provide comfort to members concerning progress in the request/offer negotiations in services, while awaiting the actual revised offers.

The Commerce Secretary, Mr Gopal K Pillai, said that the coming days till the first week of June would be crucial in terms of arriving at some convergence in the crucial areas of agriculture and NAMA so that the Ministerial level meeting of the WTO could be conducted in the third week of June, 2008.