Press Release

For Immediate Release April 12, 2006

Contact: Eric Thomas The Fratelli Group 202-822-9491

ABCDoha Points to Low Ambition in Offers By Key Developing Countries as Hold-up in Doha Services Negotiations

Business Community Also Cites Concern over Backsliding on NAMA Sectorals

Washington, D.C. - The American Business Coalition for Doha (ABCDoha) today indicated support for the progress in services negotiations in Geneva last week, but expressed concern that offers from advanced developing countries do not contain enough new market access. Coalition members observed that the so-called "plurilateral process" is generating some momentum but cautioned that talks are advancing too slowly and that much more work is needed to meet the July 31 deadline established in Hong Kong.

"While the number of offers in the services negotiations has increased, the scope and quality of many WTO members' services offers is far from enough," said Brigitte Schmidt Gwyn, Director of International Trade and Fiscal Policy, Business Roundtable.

The WTO has identified approximately 157 different service sectors in which countries can make commitments to liberalize their markets. One assessment shows that Brazil has made only 15 percent of such possible commitments. The analysis puts that figure at 21 percent for India, 17 percent for Egypt, 25 percent for Colombia, and just above 32 percent for Malaysia, all key export markets for U.S. service providers.

"The United States has shown strong initiative in the services negotiations, but we have to question the willingness of countries to reciprocate by opening their markets," Gwyn continued. "It's in everyone's interest to liberalize. Services affect productivity in all sectors in an economy including manufacturing and agriculture. However, we still have a long way to go in these negotiations to achieve a critical mass of substantive offers and the advanced developing countries are now the hold-up."

ABCDoha is also concerned about proposals to use the industrial sector market access negotiations to protect selected industries from further liberalization. "We support sectoral initiatives that promote greater liberalization than the general market access formula, but not those designed to limit or avoid liberalization altogether. Such an outcome would be antithetical to our members' desire to see Doha produce ambitious, commercially meaningful results," she concluded.

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The American Business Coalition for Doha (ABCDoha) is an umbrella group representing the diverse interests of service-providers, manufacturers, agriculture, customs facilitators, and many other stakeholders all dedicated to achieving an ambitious result from the Doha Round in 2006.