[kictanet] Fwd: WTO ITA Expansion Talks end in dissapointment in Geneva

[waudo siganga]

Could interest some colleagues: No Closure For ITA Expansion
Negotiations[1]

12/12/2014 by John Neuffer (ITI)[2]



DATELINE GENEVA – Under cold leaden skies in this city that is home to
the World Trade Organization (WTO), negotiations did not wrap up today
with a final deal to expand the Information Technology Agreement (ITA),
an agreement that would grow the global economy, foster innovation, and
reduce consumer prices on innovative technologies the world over.



The news comes as a significant disappointment to negotiators who came
to Geneva last week with high hopes that an agreement was within reach.
The deal would have eliminated tariffs on roughly $1 trillion in yearly
sales of tech products and boosted global GDP by an estimated $190
billion annually.



More specifically, the final package would have included roughly 200
tariff lines of products driving the digital economy and improving
people’s lives, such as next-generation semiconductors known as MCOs,
MRI machines, GPS devices, loud speakers, solid state drives, video game
consoles, point-of-sale cards for game and software downloading, video
cameras, and high-tech testing equipment.



To be sure, a deal was ever so close, as participating economies
made significant and difficult moves in an attempt to reach the goal
line over the past week. News reports suggest that South Korea, with
high hopes of getting LCD panels included, demonstrated a
willingness to consider an agreement without that tariff line with
an eye on the broader importance of a successful outcome to the
global economy and the WTO.



Others, such as Malaysia, Thailand, Israel, Australia, the European
Union, and the United States, also offered last-minute flexibility that
would have allowed several key products to make it across the finish
line. Costa Rica and Guatemala, as well, made constructive eleventh-hour
shifts that would have kept them in the deal and underscored the
importance of ITA expansion to smaller developing economies determined
to integrate themselves even deeper in the tech global supply chains.



The inability to conclude boiled down to the fact that the Beijing
breakthrough achieved on the margins of the Asia-Pacific Economic
Cooperation leaders’ summit last month included a good package, but one
many economies felt needed further tweaking. Though it had raised its
ambition level in the Beijing package, China was not able to move off
that package.



What’s next? There is a general sense that because the negotiations came
within an eyelash of concluding, people want to let the dust settle from
this round of talks and figure out how to finally conclude this deal.



Much hangs on successful conclusion of the ITA expansion negotiations,
beyond the boost it would give to global GDP, jobs, and innovation. The
WTO desperately needs to demonstrate it’s back in the business of
opening markets around the world and ITA expansion remains the lowest
hanging fruit in that regard. So there is no disguising that today was a
major setback, but there is an emerging feeling that it’s not time to
throw in the towel quite yet.



http://blog.itic.org/blog/no-closure-for-ita-expansion-negotiations



Links:

  13. http://blog.itic.org/blog/no-closure-for-ita-expansion-negotiations
  14. http://www.itic.org/about/staff/john-neuffer
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