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| Kathmandu, Friday March 07, 2003 Falgun 23, 2059. |
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WTO accession talks likely in
April
Post Report
KATHMANDU, March 6 : Nepal is gearing to enter
soon into the third round of bilateral negotiations for its membership to the World Trade
Organisation (WTO). The third round of Working Party meet is likely to closely follow the
bilateral negotiations.
Sources talking to The Kathmandu Post said that
final preparations are on for entering into the next round of bilateral and multilateral
negotiations for WTO membership. "The negotiations are likely to be held in
April," a source said.
The third round of negotiations and Working
Party meet for Nepal’s accession to the WTO is likely to take up the issues that was
deferred or remained unresolved during the second round of bilateral and multilateral
negotiations held in September last year.
Nepal then had carried out bilateral
negotiations with the European Union, Japan, Australia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Canada,
India, Sri Lanka and the United States. However, other countries were also present during
the Working Party meet.
Negotiating countries then had raised a number
of queries and clarifications in systemic issues and sought broader and deeper commitments
to market access. Sources said that necessary revision has been made and has already been
communicated to the negotiating countries.
"Nepal has sent its revised offers. The
upcoming negotiations are likely to be the final round. If things move as planned, we
could become a WTO member within the next few months," the source claimed.
The revision has been made especially in two
fronts, including binding tariff and opening up of service sector to global players.
Negotiating countries had raised objection over the difference in the binding tariff
proposed by Nepal and the applied tariff.
Likewise, the WTO member countries had also
asked Nepal to open up more service sectors, against the initial offer of only three.
"We have scaled down the binding tariff offer to some extent. And we have sent a list
of 25-30 service sub-sectors on which we are ready to negotiate," said the source.
Apart from tariff binding and service sector
opening, the third round of negotiations will also focus on a number of other issues that
were raised during the previous negotiations and Working Party meets. They had asked Nepal
to abide by a number of agreements, which are not mandated by the WTO to be imposed on
least developed countries.
Some of such agreements relate to information
technology and government procurement, including the adoption of chemical and textile
chemical harmonization processes. The source said that further negotiations would be
needed in these areas.
In addition, Nepal is likely to ask the WTO
member countries for technical and financial assistance to enhance its capacity so that it
is able to survive and meet all obligations under the WTO framework.
If the negotiating partners do not raise further
objection to Nepal’s new offers and the concerns are not duly addressed, then
Nepal’s berth in the WTO would be reserved after completing the formalities in the
third Working Party meet.
Officials are of the view that no complications
are likely to arise this time. "We have addressed the legitimate concerns of our
trading partners. They should, as promised, address our genuine concerns as well,"
the source said.
The third round of negotiations and Working
Party meet on Nepal’s accession to the WTO, hence, is being expected to pave way for
Nepal’s WTO membership within the next few months, possibly during the fifth
ministerial meet that is scheduled to be held in September in Mexico.
Hopes on the country’s WTO membership also
run high as the developed member countries, during the Doha ministerial meet held in
November 2001, had pledged to provide accession to LDCs on a fast track basis.
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,
and then deferred yet again.
Nepal had obtained the observer’s status in
1989 during the General Agreement on Trade and Tariff (GATT) regime, and continued to be
an observer to the WTO since 1995, the year when the WTO came into being.
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