Renewed political will exists for WTO round, Fisher says

Asian Economic News, June 12, 2000

DARWIN, Australia, June 5 Kyodo

Determination among Asia-Pacific nations to launch a new round of global trade negotiations within the World Trade Organizations (WTO) has increased on the back of unexpectedly strong growth in the region, U.S. Deputy Trade Representative Richard Fisher said Monday.

Fisher said trade ministers gathering in Darwin to attend Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum talks on Tuesday and Wednesday have expressed a renewed political will for the round due to confidence stemming from growth in many economies, including Hong Kong, Thailand and Singapore.

"The APEC region has recovered more quickly from the economic tsunami of 1997 and 1998 far faster than was expected," he said.

"The point I want to make is that the economies in the region are stronger and more confident than...when we had our WTO ministerial meeting in Seattle. And that confidence is critical for making the politically difficult decisions that are necessary for early launch of a new round."

However, Fisher said some countries had not experienced economic growth and the reality was those countries would find it more difficult to implement free-trade policies.

"Japan is the most glaring present example. We hope...they'll be a little more aggressive than they have been in the past. It's a great nation, it's a powerful nation, it's stalled in the water economically, it needs to liberalize."

Fisher said he hoped whoever wins Japan's general election later this month takes a strong stance to end trade barriers.

Attempts to launch an anticipated new round of global trade liberalization talks within the WTO failed at last December's Seattle meeting, which was marred by violent protests and by complaints from developing countries that their interests were not being met.

Fisher said the United States was ready to move quickly on launching a new round, but added the complete elimination of trade-distorting agricultural subsidies was "absolutely" a prerequisite for the U.S. to agree to the new round.

"Unfortunately, we have these distorting measures that come out of Europe and elsewhere that exacerbate the problem...we are calling for a total elimination of trade distorting agricultural subsidies."

Fisher said he could not predict when the new round might start, but his government was cautiously hopeful it would happen this year.

He said it was vital that ministers meeting in Darwin endorse the APEC goals of free trade within developed countries by 2010 and developing countries by 2020, but he said APEC must also work quickly to embrace new technologies that are reshaping regional economies.

"I think it's very important that we add a new dimension in terms of the electronic role because it's changed so quickly. In e-commerce a generation (lasts) three or four years, not 20 years like it used to be," he said.

"Governments must now move quickly to lay the foundation for this new economic paradigm with strong market fundamentals with electronic tools and skills and the supporting services required for e-commerce."