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ICC moots global trade agenda for WTO
By TII News Service
Oct 08, 2012 , Paris |
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Paris-based International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) has called for a stand-alone
World Trade Organisation (WTO) agreement on trade facilitation. It should be
concluded by the 9th WTO Ministerial Conference at Bali in Indonesia during
December 2013, suggests ICC.
In its draft recommendations captioned ‘Business World Trade Agenda’ (WTA)
for forthcoming WTO agreement, ICC says: “A WTO agreement on trade facilitation
is expected to deliver gains of at least US$130 billion annually, with most
of the gains benefitting developing countries.3 It should significantly reduce
costs, speed up and streamline administrative and other official procedures,
and create a more transparent, predictable and efficient environment for cross-border
trade.
ICC has also called for initiatives to make regional and preferential trade
agreements (RTAs/PTAs) compatible and complementary to multilateral trading
system.
“Integrating the main elements of RTAs/PTAs into WTO treaties creates a level
playing field for all companies in every region of the world. Business, therefore,
strongly supports increasing the capacity of the WTO to foster convergence
and harmonization of non-tariff measures. A positive first step in this direction
would be linking the World Customs Organization’s (WCO) recently-established
database of preferential rules of origin with the WTO’s non-tariff measures
database that is under development,” it notes.
Another ICC recommendation envisages concrete progress on the liberalization
of trade in services through alternative negotiating approaches, including
plurilateral approaches and approaches focused on particular sectors, such
as, for example, the Agreement on Basic Telecommunication Services or the Agreement
on Financial Services.
These approaches should be pragmatic, results-oriented, consensus-based, transparent,
as inclusive as possible, and should lead to multilateral outcomes across all
modes of supply, it adds.
ICC has pitched for lowering of trade barriers in the arena of information
technology products and services. WTO should also work towards a multilateral
framework for international investment to support economic growth and development,
it suggests.
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