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| Kathmandu Wednesday April 03, 2002 Chaitra 21, 2058. |
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Nepal communicates with
negotiating partners
Post Report
KATHMANDU, April 2:With a view to benefiting
from the pledges made by the developed members of the World Trade Organisation (WTO)
during the fourth ministerial conference held at Doha, Qatar last year, Nepal has formally
submitted its opinion to its negotiating partners.
"The communication that we have done is in
order to understand the views of the WTO members over Nepal’s accession to the
WTO," said Prachanda Man Shrestha, chief of the WTO cell at the Ministry of Industry,
Commerce and Supplies.
The WTO cell has sent letters to each of the
negotiating partners, except India, seeking their opinion, which would pave way for the
protracted second round of bilateral negotiations. The first round of bilateral
negotiations was held in September 2000.
However, if the negotiating countries, as per
the commitments they made during the last ministerial meet, do not seek additional
commitments from Nepal, that would automatically qualify Nepal for the WTO membership.
Developed countries at the Doha meet had pledged
to help in the accession of least developed countries (LDCs) into the WTO promising not to
ask for WTO-plus commitments from the new members. That had raised hopes for all LDCs fin
obtaining WTO membership on a fast track basis.
Nepal, at the first round of bilateral
negotiations held in September 2000, had discussed a wide range of issues with its trading
partners, including binding tariff, market access, and opening of service sector, among
others.
Nepal had negotiated with the European Union,
Japan, Australia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Canada, India, Sri Lanka and the United States
proposing binding tariff of five to six times more of the applied rates.
Nepal then had proposed an average of 60 per
cent binding tariff on agriculture. However, it had argued for open-ended binding rates in
the case of cement, cigarettes, liquor, arms and ammunition, and vehicles, among others.
Nepal had proposed the binding tariff on the
higher side to protect the interests of the domestic industries. Participants in the
negotiations had lamented over the high tariff offers made by Nepal for its accession to
WTO and had requested Nepal to review its proposed binding rates.
They had questioned Nepal over the high
difference in the proposed and applied tariff rates. They had also demanded further
expansion of the service sector to foreign investors, which Nepal so far allows only in
the areas of tourism, health and telecommunications.
However, if the negotiating partners now do not
raise any further objection to Nepal’s earlier proposal, then Nepal’s berth in
the WTO would be reserved after duly completing the formalities in the Second Working
Party meet.
Developed countries at the Doha Conference had
vowed to help in the accession of LDCs to the WTO promising not to ask for WTO-plus
commitments from the new members. That had raised hopes for all the LDCs for obtaining WTO
membership on a fast track basis, and more importantly, at fewer commitments.
"If the countries that had shown interest
to negotiate with Nepal do not raise objections to Nepal’s proposal in the first
round of negotiations, then Nepal would get an early entry into the global trading
regime," said Shrestha.
However, if the countries stick to their
previous demands for a more open market and lower tariff binding, Nepal would be compelled
to sit for another round of negotiations.
Whether the negotiating partners ask for more
commitments or not, Nepal’s formal entry into the WTO is likely to take place right
after the Second Working Party meet. It is the Working Party meeting that formalises the
agreements reached at the bilateral negotiations.
The Second Working Party meet was formerly
expected to be held during March/April last year, but was postponed in the light of then
upcoming Doha meet. The First Working Party meet was held in Geneva in March, 1999.
The Working Party meeting would mull on a wide
range of issues including systemic track, which encompasses the rules and regulations of
WTO, and ways to deepen market access of foreign firms to domestic markets of WTO
membership-seeking countries.
So far, not a single LDC has acceded to the WTO
since its establishment in 1995. Nepali government officials had claimed in 1998 that the
accession process would be completed by mid-2000, which was later extended to July 2001. |
