US Asks ?Core Questions? on DDA

Geneva * US Trade Representative Rob Portman wants trade ministers who will meet with him in Zurich on Monday to address four "core questions" dealing with "what is possible" to achieve at the mid-December Hong Kong ministerial meeting (WTD, 10/5/05). In a two-page letter to the 15 ministers invited to the informal "Fluella-plus" session, the USTR stated that he did not expect hard decisions to be made at Zurich. "The Zurich meeting is not a substitute for the important work in Geneva among the wider WTO membership, and I would not expect any formal decisions to be taken in Zurich." Mr. Portman stressed.

Instead, the USTR suggested that the participants follow the course set out by World Trade Organization Director General Pascal Lamy in his statement last month to the Trade Negotiations Committee that members "fight the temptation to lower ambition in the round overall in order to succeed at Hong Kong." He also stated that he is looking for a two-thirds completion of the round by December.

The Director General said members must agree on the goals for Hong Kong by mid-October with a draft ministerial document to be finalized by mid-November.

Invited ministers could discuss "steps" that ought to be taken to realize each goal, thereby building the overall package, USTR Portman said in the letter.

Trade ministers from Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Egypt, the European Union, India, Hong Kong, Japan, Kenya, South Korea, Malaysia, Rwanda, South Africa and Switzerland as well as the United States are expected to present their assessments of the "overall balance for Hong Kong, and for the final negotiations in 2006."