RESTRICTED
WORLD TRADE S/NGMTS/10
11April 1996
ORGANIZATION
(96-1282)
Negotiating Group onMaritime Transport Services
NOTE ONTHE MEETING OF26AND 29MARCH 1996
TheNegotiating Group onMaritime Transport Services helditstenth meeting on26and29
March 1996. Theagenda ofthemeeting wascontained inAirgram WTO/AIR/296 of12March 1996.
Under itemAoftheagenda, submission ofoffers, theChairman emphasized theneedforall
participants tosubmit comprehensive conditional offers assoonaspossible. Brazil, Colombia and
theCôted'Ivoire submitted theirfirstoffers during thecourse ofthemeeting. Each offer covered
allthethree pillars: international shipping, maritime auxiliary services, andaccess toanduseofport
services. Argentina, Mexico, Morocco andPoland indicated thattheywould soonsubmit offers, while
Indonesia andSingapore saidthattheywould respond positively tothecallforimproved offers.
Australia, theEuropean Communities, Japan, New Zealand andNorway were among those who
welcomed thenewoffers andtheindications thatothers would beforthcoming. TheChairman noted
thatSwitzerland hadnotmerely reinstated theofferwhich itwithdrew in1993, buthadimproved upon
it.Some Members expressed disappointment thatnotallmajor participants hadsubmitted offers.
Under itemB,developments inbilateral negotiations, most members expressed satisfaction
withthebilaterals conducted during theweek, even though there wasconcern about thelackof
meaningful participation onthepartofsomeMembers. TheEuropean Communities noted thatprogress
wasbeing made butitwastooearly tosaywhether thesense ofresponsibility thatithadencountered
among participants would bearfruit. Norway emphasized theneedforparticipants tobeflexible in
thecurrent negotiations, andsaidthatneither GATS northeWTO could afford thefailure ofthese
negotiations. Italsopointed outthatmaritime transport waspartoftheGATS, andwould belegally
covered bytheGATS, irrespective oftheoutcome ofthecurrent negotiations. Australia andSingapore
alsonoted thattheoutcome ofthecurrent negotiations would haveimplications forthemultilateral
trading system. Singapore stressed thatmeaningful bilaterals could onlytakeplaceifcountries revealed
whattheywere willing tooffer. Itwasconcerned thatthefailure ofthecurrent negotiations would
sendanegative signal totheMinisterial Conference tobeheldlaterthisyearinSingapore. TheUnited
States, while encouraged bythenewoffers, emphasized thattheoffers should beliberalizing rather
thanmerely reflect thecurrent situation. Itwasnotconvinced thattheexisting offers fulfilled this
requirement. Itwould baseadecision toreconsider itsposition onfuture developments. Canada said
thatitwasimportant tosetasidequestions oftheappropriate division ofnegotiating responsibility and
moveahead.SeveralMembersreiteratedtheircommitmenttoasuccessfulconclusiontothenegotiations.
Japan, presenting written comments ontheAustralian paper circulated during theprevious
meeting, stated thatcommitments onmultimodal transport services would notbevaluable intheabsence
ofsubstantial commitments onthethreepillars. Canada suggested thatthedraftschedule berecirculated
afterithadbeenrevised toinclude some ofthescheduling options withrespect tomultimodal transport.
TheChairman endorsed theCanadian suggestion.
./.S/NGMTS/10
Page2
Under itemCoftheagenda, matters relating toparagraph 7oftheDecision onNegotiations
onMaritime Transport Services, theEuropean Communities, Japan andNorway again expressed their
concern overtherecent enactment oftheUnited States legislation which permits theexport ofNorth
Alaskan oilbutreserves itstransportation toUnited States-flag ships. Japan saidthatthiswasinconflict
withparagraph 7oftheMinisterial Decision onNegotiations onMaritime Transport Services which
called forastandstill during thenegotiations andprohibited participating countries fromtaking measures
which mayimprove theirnegotiating position. TheEuropean Communities andNorway shared Japan's
concerns.
Itwasdecided thattheNGMTS would meet nexton8May1996, andthenatahighlevel
on23May1996.