Brussels, 12/02/2014 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission and the World Trade Organisation hope to see a global trade facilitation deal come into force by August 2014.
Visiting the EU institutions in Brussels on Wednesday 12 February, the head of the WTO, Roberto Azevedo, received firm assurances from the European Commission and European Parliament of the EU's commitment to apply the partial agreement on the Doha trade round reached at a summit in Bali in December 2013, known as the Bali package.
“The European Union is strongly committed to the multilateral trading system. The European Commission made a very important contribution to the successful WTO ministerial in Bali and I congratulated Ambassador de Azevedo on the decisive role he played in brokering that agreement. We are committed to help him reinvigorate the multilateral trading system. The expansion of trade opportunities remains one of the main sources of global growth. That is why trade is an integral part of the EU's agenda for bolstering economic growth and creating jobs”, said the president of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, after his meeting with the Brazilian diplomat, adding: “The immediate priority for the international trade community should be to fully implement the package agreed in Bali. WTO members have proved they are ready to do business. The trade facilitation agreement needs to be put in place by the end of July this year. A strong effort is also needed to prepare the work programme for completing the negotiations under the Doha Development Agenda”.
The Bali package is a raft of measures to simplify trade, give developing countries extra options for ensuring food security, encourage trade with the least developed countries (LDC) and encourage general development. The historic agreement is the first multilateral trade deal since the WTO was set up back in 1995 and could generate a trillion dollars a year in global GDP gains. The partial Doha agreement covers the facilitation of trade and a range of binding measures to simplify and relax customs procedures to help boost the flow of trade. The partial agreement includes a development package and clarifies agricultural issues, including a decision on public stockpiling to ensure food security (see EUROPE 10980).
Addressing the European Parliament's international trade committee chaired by Vital Moreira (S&D, Portugal), Azevedo stressed the importance of full implementation of the Bali package in 2014, as he had explained to WTO member state ambassadors on 6 February (see EUROPE 11014). Welcoming the EU's helpful contribution to the Bali summit, the Brazilian diplomat noted that the United States had been particularly flexible. He said that the US had been extremely constructive, backing his work to the full and doing all in their power to ensure success. The United States made such a big commitment in Bali because they had the feeling that something could be achieved if people stayed the course. Azevedo said that the distance that had been felt from the US from 2008 onwards was caused by their lack of confidence in the system.
Azevedo warned the EU and the US in their negotiations on an ambitious free-trade deal known as TTIP that there was a risk of a proliferation of rules and regulations from bilateral trade deals, which he described as “complementary” to the WTO, but which tend to increase the cost of trade rather than reduce it. (EH/transl.fl)