June
2004
Japan will have to make concessions in selected areas if
it wishes to safeguard sensitive products such as rice in World Trade
Organization negotiations, according to Pascal Lamy of the European Union
Trade Commissioner. Of particular concern for Japan is how politically
sensitive products for the nation, such as rice and beef, will be handled
in basic framework agreements on agriculture, trade and market access that
are being negotiated under the Doha Round. Currently, the government has a
490% tariff on imported rice, but if a mooted tariff cap of 200% were to
be placed equally on all agricultural products, Japanese farmers would
potentially suffer due to a possible flood of rice imports. The
commissioner said that Japan, with all other WTO members, must
substantially open its markets, with any concessions on sensitive areas to
be made up in other sectors. The best way for Japan to proceed to get the
most benefits is to continue its negotiations with other countries. It
also must show the same openness to development issues that are key to the
current round of talks. Like in a number of areas, Japan has to fulfill
the Doha (agenda) with give and take. But the take will not happen without
some set of give. WTO members are currently scrambling to reach the basic
framework agreements by the end of July to revive the organizations
stalled trade liberalization talks. The Commissioner stressed the
organization's commitment to achieve three pillars: 1. substantial
increase in market access. 2. major reduction of trade barriers and
domestic subsidies. 3. removal of export support. The new round of talks
have reached the halfway point, and are focusing on development issues,
placing priority on the interests of the poorest countries. The
negotiations are mainly over agriculture, Singapore issues, trade
facilitation, transparency in government procurement, cross-border
investment and competition, as well as tariffs on industrial products.
(June 23, the Daily Yomiuri)
European Union and Japanese executives pressed for new
urgency in World Trade Organization talks on global trade, while urging
their own governments to promote two-way investment. Forty-nine executives
from major companies called on their governments to work to reach a basic
agreement by a July deadline set by the WTO. It is very important to
return to the right track after Cancun, according to Viscount Etienne
Davignon of Suez-Tractebel, who co-chaired the two-day EU-Japan Business
Dialogue Round Table. The 148-member WTO talks on the Doha agenda
collapsed due mainly to differences over farm trade and investment access
but representatives from nearly 30 WTO countries met in Paris last month
to work toward a basic agreement by July. Besides trade issues, the
executives attend the annual round table called on their governments to
boost two-way investment. Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, European
Commission President Romano Prodi and Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern,
who currently holds the rotating EU presidency, will agree on an
investment promotion framework at the end of the Japan EU Summit. The
Japan-EU summit is the first since the May enlargement of the Union to 25
nations from 15 and comes as Japan's economic growth in the January-March
quarter of 6.1% annualized led the top seven industrialized nations.
Ambassador Bernard Zepter, head of the European Commission delegation in
Japan has encouraged Japanese firms to invest in the economies of the
block's new East European members and so benefit from the 21.7 billion
euro in EU funds set aside in 2003-06 for them. (June 22, AFP-Jiji, the
Daily Yomiuri)
May
2004
Japan and the EU
will cooperate on new round of WTO farm talks. Visiting Japanese
Agriculture Minister Yoshiyuki Kamei and EU Commissioner confirmed their
efforts to cooperate in moving ahead on farm negotiations in the new round
of the WTO talks. In Strasbourg, Minister Kamei and EU Agriculture
Commissioner Franz Fischer agreed that this period of the deadline at the
end of July is a crucial time for producing framework agreements on the
farm and nonfarm areas under the Doha round of WTO talks. The two
discussed the three areas of the farm liberalization talks, providing
support for exports, subsidizing domestic industries and opening markets.
Kamei explained to Fischer Japan's position on opposing such plans as
setting up maximum tariffs when liberating markets. Fischer indicated the
need for a framework that will balance out the three fields and said the
countries should tackle the market liberalization without leaving the
issue vague. (May 4, Kyodo News, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun)
