PRESS/45
22March 1996
WTO DIRECTOR-GENERAL 'SSTATEMENT ONBASIC
TELECOMMUNICATIONS NEGOTIATIONS
Mr.Renato Ruggiero, WTO Director-General, made thefollowing statement (today)
atameeting ofsenior negotiators representing the51governments participating intheWTO
negotiations onbasic telecommunications:
"Iamgrateful toyouallforcoming here today. Iknow thatyouareinthemiddle
ofanexhausting negotiation andthatsome ofyouhave hadtoreschedule bilateral meetings
tobehere. ButIthought itnecessary tomeet youanddiscuss thestatus ofthebasic telecoms
negotiations because, toputitbluntly Ithink there isground forconcern about theamount
ofwork stilltobedone inthevery short time wehave left.
"AsIhave saidmany times, thisisavitally important negotiation, notonly interms
oftheeconomic benefits thatliberalization oftelecoms services willconfer ontherestofthe
world economy. Itwillalsobeimportant forthepreparation oftheSingapore Ministerial that
thisnegotiation, which, together with those inFinancial Services, Movement ofNatural Persons
andMaritime Services, make upfourimportant steps forthemultilateral system, isconcluded
ontime andinasatisfactory way.
"With thestakes ashigh asthey are,andgiven thestrong demand oftelecoms users
thatthenegotiation should succeed, toletitfailwould besimply unacceptable. Iwant tomake
itclear Iamready todoanything Icantohelp youbring ittosuccess.
"Let mereview what Iamtoldisthecurrent situation:
- According totheagreed timetable forthese negotiations, participants should
have begun submitting offers inJuly oflastyear. You have alsoagreed that
revised offers would besubmitted on8January andthaton25March -next
Monday -final schedules onbasic telecommunications would betabled.
- Asoftoday, wehave 37fullparticipants inthenegotiations. This includes the
European Union as1,andthefullparticipants account foravery large share
ofworld trade intelecommunications. Butofthat37only 24have sofar
submitted initial offers. Only 7ofthese have sofarsubmitted revised or
improved offers.
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"Itisofcourse foreach government involved todecide whether itwilltakecommitments
inthisnegotiation, andwhat those commitments should be.ButIamconcerned thatalthough,
asIunderstand it,many ofyouareinaposition tomake significant improvements inyour
offers, andthatothers whohave sofarmade nooffers arelikely tobeabletodoso,governments
appear tobeholding back. IfIamright, itislackoftime, notlackofwill, thatshould concern
usmost. Ifeverybody waits forothers tomove first there isarealdanger ofmissing the
deadline.
"The second issue Iwant toraise with youconcerns theregulatory principles and
the"Reference Paper" which hasbeen under discussion. Reports Ireceived following last
month 'sdiscussions onthismatter were encouraging; itseemed thatagood deal ofprogress
hadbeenmade.Butinthemeetingheldearlierthisweeknofurtherprogresswasmade,although
Ithink allofyouwould agree thatthistextreally needs tobefinished during thisweek. It
isanimportant element ofthenegotiations, since some such principles willbeessential togive
realsubstance tomarket access commitments. Looking atthetext, itseems tomethatthe
remaining differences ought tobecapable ofresolution; some ofthem aremere drafting points.
May Iurge youtomake your very bestefforts today togetthiselement ofthework finished,
sothatthetextcanbetaken intoaccount inyour remaining bilateral negotiations.
"Iamconvinced thatyoucanproduce agood result bytheagreed April deadline. I
alsobelieve thatagood result willmake arealimportant andvaluable contribution togrowth
andtoconfidence intheworld economy. Inow want tohear your views onwhat wemust
alldotoensure thatthishappens."
Concluding comments
"Ifeelencouraged bythisdebate. Ithasshown thatallthedelegations arededicated
toasuccessful conclusion. Theutmost importance ofthese negotiations hasbeen recognized -
indeed, itisoneofthemost important negotiations forthemultilateral trading system.
"Itisvery clear from thecomments wehave heard thatthedeadline of30April isa
target which willnotbemoved. Wenow need toincrease themomentum ofnegotiation."
END