On November 12, the Global Services Coalition issued a statement in which it called for a strong Doha Round services text that signals convincingly that the services negotiations must obtain the maximum number of bindings and new offers in as many of the key service sectors and subsectors as possible. WTO members are currently preparing a services text, which is expected to be issued around the time of the revised agriculture and NAMA texts.
The Coalition’s statement says that, to the maximum extent possible, services offers should remove restrictions on foreign equity, on the form of establishment, on the crossborder supply of services, on the movement of natural persons, and nationality requirements, as well as provide for commitments on regulatory transparency, and the elimination of competitive advantages to government or government-linked entities.