(Bogota, Colombia) The Doha Round negotiations are at a critical moment with a failure of the G4 Trade Ministers meeting in Potsdam, Germany. The Global Services Coalition (GSC) said today, at the Third World Services Congress (WSC) in Bogota, that the opportunity to reach a commercially meaningful agreement in the Round is slipping further away. Indeed G4 Ministers were unable to achieve a breakthrough in agriculture and NAMA. Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim has been quoted as saying that both Brazil and India have walked away from this critical meeting. The GSC is very disappointed that services were not even discussed.
The Coalition urged that decision makers consider the gravity of this moment and ensure that meaningful discussions continue in Geneva and substantively address the three main pillars; services, agriculture and NAMA in the coming weeks.
With services representing 60% of World GDP, global executives urged that Ministers compromise on agriculture and NAMA and summon the required vision to harness the political will to conclude a successful Doha Round which must include substantial new liberalization in services.
Contact:
- Australian Services Roundtable: Jane Drake-Brockman, [email protected]
- Barbados Coalition of Service Industries: [email protected]
- Canadian Services Coalition: Shirley-Ann George, [email protected]
- Coalition of Service Industries (US): John Goyer, [email protected]
- European Services Forum: Pascal Kerneis, [email protected]
- Financial Leaders Group: Ekrem Sarper, [email protected]
- General Chamber of Commerce of the Republic of China: [email protected]
- General Insurance Association of Japan: Katsuo Matsushita, [email protected]
- Trinidad and Tobago Coalition of Services Industries: Dav-Ernan Kowlessar, [email protected]
