Lamy hails WTO contract on regional trade agreements
11 Jul '06
3 min read
The Chairman of the Negotiating Group on Rules, Ambassador Guillermo Valles Galmés (Uruguay), said the decision is “an early contribution to the Doha Round”. He commended the “constructive engagement” of all delegations in the negotiations.
The Negotiating Group on Rules has forwarded the decision to the Trade Negotiations Committee.
RTAs, which includes bilateral free trade agreements between countries that are not in the same region, have become so widespread that all but one WTO member are now parties to one or more of them.
It is estimated that more than half of world trade is now conducted under RTAs. Some 197 such agreements in force have been notified to the GATT/WTO.
A Committee on RTAs in 1996 replaced separate working parties that have examined these agreements since the GATT.
Differences between members on how to interpret the criteria for assessing the consistency of RTAs with WTO rules have created a lengthening backlog of uncompleted reports in the Committee.
In fact, consensus on WTO consistency has been reached in only one case so far: the customs union between the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic after the break up of Czechoslovakia.
-Ltd..jpg?tr=w-120,h-60,c-at_max,cm-pad_resize,bg-ffffff "Thermore (Far East) Ltd.")
.jpg?tr=w-120,h-60,c-at_max,cm-pad_resize,bg-ffffff "Telangana State Industrial Infrastructure Corporation Limited (TSllC Ltd)")
.jpg?tr=w-120,h-60,c-at_max,cm-pad_resize,bg-ffffff "Taiwan Textile Federation (TTF)")
