ISLAMABAD, Dec 22: The agreement on services will allow the rich countries to continue to enjoy access to the market of developing countries without giving reciprocal access.
This was stated by Pakistan’s Ambassador to WTO Dr Manzoor Ahmed while speaking at a conference on “Post-WTO Hong Ministerial,” organized by Saarc Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI), here on Thursday.
Mr Ahmed said that the agreement was kept vague, which would give more benefits to the developed countries rather to give any tangible concessions to developing countries in the shape of movement of unskilled labour to the market of rich countries.
The envoy said that rich countries had once again succeeded in postponing the inevitable abolishing of agriculture subsidies to the year of 2013. The European Union had well protected their interest in the ministerial round by extending the date as per their Common Agriculture Policy (CAP). The G-20 member countries and the US were proposing to abolish it by 2010.
He highlighted the outcomes of Hong Kong Ministerial Conference with specific reference to non-agriculture market access (NAMA), agriculture modalities and services negotiations.
The global trade talks in Hong Kong had ended on a mixed note. “They have neither succeeded in addressing the important concerns of all, especially of developing countries, nor they have failed completely,” the ambassador added.
State Minister for Commerce Hamid Yar Hiraj said that the Hong Kong ministerial partially succeeded in getting an end date for elimination of all kinds of export subsidies.
He hoped that modalities in this connection would be sorted out by April 30, 2006.
