Brussels, 27/06/2001 (Agence Europe) - Two days of intensive negotiation, in Brussels, on prices practised by Korean shipyards, resulted on Tuesday evening with progress being made, it was announced by the European Commission spokesman, on Wednesday. Those in charge of the dossier have about one week in which to fine-tune and conclude an amicable solution in time to prevent the binding arbitration of the World Trade Organisation in this dispute that has been waiting to break out for nearly two years now. The Korean officials may return to the negotiating table early next week, the last limit it is insisted, either in Brussels or in Paris, where the OECD will deal with the shipbuilding sector several days later.
The Union, which is slightly more optimistic than last month, when it had triggered a procedure aimed at reestablishing specific aid in favour of European shipyards and launching the multilateral dispute settlement process on 30 June (see EUROPE of 8 May, p.12, and 9 May, p;10), "will keep the door open for a few more days yet" after this deadline, stated the spokesman. "Internal work" on this possibly double approach will be "completed early next month, which allows us to grant several more days to Seoul, but time is running short", say circles close to the Commission.
According to these same sources, the main difficulty to be overcome to reach an agreement comes from the refusal of Korean authorities to include vessels transporting liquified natural gas in the field of their commitments. "We believe this is necessary. There will be no agreement unless these sectors are covered", it is insisted on the European side. The spokesman noted that, for the other points of dissension, proposals have been made in Seoul, mainly concerning commitments on prices practised by the Korean shipyards (the European request aimed at a "reasonable" market price for ships), the scope of the agreement (the type of vessel covered by the commitments, except those cited above) and the mechanism which would make all these commitments binding. "There has been progress in several sectors, but no agreement as yet at this stage", he added. The ball is still in the Korean court, the invitation being launched by the Europeans to pursue negotiations to the finish early next week, "at the very latest".