RESTRICTED
WORLD TRADE S/NGNP/6
13June1995
ORGANIZATION(95-1564)
Original: English Negotiating Group onMovement ofNatural Persons
NOTE ONTHE MEETING OF24MAY 1995
TheNegotiating Group onMovement ofNatural Persons helditssixth meeting under the
chairmanshipofAmbassadorManhusenofSwedenwhoreplacedAmbassadorBautistaofthePhilippines
forthismeeting. Theagenda forthemeeting wascontained inAirgram WTO/AIR/77 andtheGroup
began byaccepting therequest forobserver status from Latvia.
Withrespecttothemainagendaitem,theprogressofbilateralnegotiations,theCanadiandelegate
stated thatCanada haddiscussed adraftofferonthetemporary movement ofservice suppliers without
therequirement foracommercial presence withdelegations from bothdeveloped anddeveloping
countries. Theofferbuiltonexisting commitments andprovided meaningful access forprofessional
services, including computer services, andresponded tothespecific requests ofcertain delegations
which linked negotiations onthetemporary movement ofservice providers withthenegotiations on
financial services. Henoted thatcertain developing country Members hadstated thattheirposition
inrelation tofinancial services would depend onthose ofdeveloped countries inthenegotiations on
temporary entry. While acknowledging thatasingle newofferfromCanada would notalone suffice
inthisprocess, heemphasised thattheCanadian offerontemporary movement wasconditional upon
animprovement inothers 'offers onfinancial services.
Thedelegate ofEgypt saidthathedidnotseeanyclearimprovements asaresult ofbilaterals
inthescheduled commitments relating tomode 4except forthatofCanada which wasunderstood to
beconditional. Access forindependent service providers wasanimportant element oftheAgreement
andneeded tobeaddressed intheschedules ofthedeveloped countries; finally, hereiterated theview
thathisdelegation linked theresults inthisGroup withtheon-going negotiations infinancial services.
Therepresentative ofIndiawelcomed Canada 'sconditional offerbutregretted thatnegotiations
inthisareahadregistered verylittleprogress todate.Itwashisdelegation 'sconviction thatthemajor
developed countries hadtheprincipal responsibility tomake higher levels ofcommitments inthisarea
sothatdeveloping countries could getthebalance thattheywere seeking intheGATS. Ifthiswas
notforthcoming itwould bedifficult forIndia tomaintain itsexisting offerinfinancial services. Given
thelinkage between thetwosetsofnegotiations heasked whether itwould notbemore fruitful if
jointbilateral negotiations forbothmovement ofpersons andfinancial services should beheldinthe
nextround ofbilaterals. Hesawthisasapractical waytoresolve thenegotiating impasse.
Therepresentative ofPakistan agreed withthelinkage between thetwosetsofnegotiations
and,while welcoming theCanadian proposal, urged participants totableoffers intheformofrevised
schedules onthesame linesasinthefinancial services area. Therepresentative ofthePhilippines
hoped thatCanada 'sofferwasnotanisolated development andthatother developed countries would
soonundertake similar constructive efforts toreach higher levels ofcommitments. Herdelegation
washowever seriously concerned about thedisappointing nature andextent ofother countries '
commitments. Thedelegate fromtheDominican Republic noted thatitwould bedifficult tomaintain
itsoffer infinancial services without concrete results inthemovement ofnatural persons.
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Therepresentative oftheEuropean Community saidthatherdelegation wasgiving serious
attentiontothedesireofsomeMemberstohavecommitmentsundermode4withoutcommercialpresence
andwasconsidering whether there wereanysectors inrespect ofwhich animproved offercould be
made. Thedelegate oftheUnited States noted thatbilateral negotiations were continuing between
herdelegation andcertain trading partners.
TheChairman saidthatthereports showed thatonlylimited progress hadbeenmade andthat
itwasimportant toconsider carefully howtheGroup 'swork should beorganized inthefinalphase
ofthenegotiations. Turning tothenextitemontheagenda -theorganization offuture work anddates
offuture meetings -theChairman suggested thattheGroup usetheapproach taken intheFinancial
ServicesCommitteewhereanumberofconditionaloffersordraftrevisedscheduleshadbeenputforward
andcirculated bytheSecretariat. Underlying thiswastherecognition thatconditional offers needed
tobemade andconfirmed inwriting inorder tomonitor progress.
Taking intoconsideration whathadbeendiscussed inearlier informal consultations heldby
Ambassador Bautista andwhathadbeensaidatthismeeting, theChairman summarized thevarious
proposals andsuggested thefollowing timetable orcritical pathforthenegotiations:
- Submission ofrevised schedules indicating higher
levels ofcommitments andcirculation bySecretariat12-13 June
- Bilateral Negotiations onthebasis oftheabove
submissions14-16 June
- Submission ofdraftfinalschedules 19June
- Further bilateral negotiations including thereview and
consideration ofdraftfinalschedules19-23 June
- Final meeting ofNegotiating Group onMovement
ofNatural Persons26June
Thetimetable wasagreed andparticipants werereminded thatitwasnecessary toreflect on
theprocedures bywhich newcommitments would beadded totheschedules. Thiswould probably
bedone bymeans ofaprotocol, adraft ofwhich would beprovided todelegations fortheir
consideration.