The
Council for Trade in Goods, on 9 July 2007, approved a request by Mongolia
for a five-year waiver on its accession commitment on cashmere. It also
approved the extension — until end of 2016 — of the waiver on the United
States' duty-free treatments of products from the former Trust Territory of
the Pacific Islands. Both draft decisions will now go to the General Council
for adoption.
Mongolia recalled that when it acceded in 1997, it had committed to phase
out and eliminate an export duty on raw cashmere within ten years. It
requested the extension of this phase-out period by another five years due
to the importance of cashmere to its economy. Mongolia said that the local
cashmere industry has been facing serious difficulties, with employment
reduced by half over the last few years. There are also environmental
concerns as the increase in exports of raw cashmere has encouraged the
growth of goat herds that now surpass the sustainability of the country's
pasture lands.
India, Turkey, Paraguay and Bolivia supported Mongolia's waiver request. The
United States and China said they would not object to the request.
The United States recalled that in 1948 under the GATT, it was granted a
waiver for duty-free treatment to products of the then Trust Territory of
the Pacific Islands. This waiver was extended in the WTO to end 2006. The
United States requested another extension — until end 2016 — of this waiver
providing tariff-free treatment to products from the Republic of the
Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, the Commonwealth of
the Northern Mariana Islands, and the Republic of Palau.
The United States said it would be submitting revised versions of its
outstanding waiver requests regarding the African Growth and Opportunity Act
(AGOA), the Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act (CBERA) and the Andean
Trade Preference Act (ATPA). It said the changes would reflect concerns
about the format of the requests, and also the recent extension by the US
Congress of ATPA.
Paraguay said it is continuing with efforts to find an acceptable solution
to the US waiver requests. Stressing the importance of the consensus rule in
the WTO, Paraguay noted that it was not using its power to block consensus
lightly. It said that its economic situation as a landlocked country and the
use of its territory as a transit area by drug traffickers justify its
inclusion in ATPA.
The Council agreed to revert to the US waiver requests on AGOA, CBERA and
ATPA at the next meeting.
Senegal introduced its request for a second extension of the waiver from the
WTO Agreement on Customs Valuation for its use of minimum values for customs
valuation. It said it continued to experience difficulties in implementing
this Agreement due to a large informal sector and the danger of price
manipulation through fraud, false declarations and under-invoicing. Senegal
said it was ready to consult with other Members on its request.
The Council agreed to revert to this item at its next meeting. The Chairman,
Ambassador Karsten Vagn Nielson of Denmark, invited interested members to
consult on this issue.
Turkey reiterated its proposal. for a work programme on textiles and
clothing. It said it had been consulting with some other members, and
expressed optimism for an eventual agreement. Turkey said that the textiles
study it proposed should not be a threat to the multilateral trading system,
nor should it have adverse effects on any WTO member. It added that it has
detected significant support for the proposal, and urged flexibility from
objecting members.
The following delegations expressed support for Turkey's proposal for a
study on the textiles sector: Tunisia, Jordan, the Dominican Republic,
Honduras, El Salvador, Morocco, Japan, Mexico, United States and Egypt.
China said its position against Turkey's proposal remains unchanged, and
would not change in the near future.
Also objecting to Turkey's proposal were India, Thailand, Pakistan, Vietnam
and Hong Kong, China.
Argentina raised the possibility of a middle-ground proposal.
The Council agreed to revert to this item at its next meeting. The Chairman
said he would continue with his informal consultations on this issue.
The Council agreed that Mr. Khalid Emara of Egypt chair the ITA Committee
for the rest of the year.
It also took note of four recently-notified regional trade agreements:
India-Singapore, the Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership (Brunei
Darussalam, Chile, New Zealand and Singapore), Chile-China, and the South
African Customs Union or SACU (Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa and
Swaziland).
The next meeting of the Council is scheduled for 23 November 2007.
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