| Statement by H. E. Ambassador Sun Zhenyu at the Informal Trade Negotiations Committee Meeting |
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| Monday,February 04,2008 Posted: 18:30 BJT(30 GMT) |
| From:WTO Mission Article type:Original |
Thank you Pascal for your assessment of the situation and your approach to the process for the next stage. We share very much your statement. We look forward to the texts to be presented by the AG and NAMA Chairs sometime next week which will help accelerate the process of negotiations. We believe as other Members that the deal is doable before the end of this year and we must make all efforts possible to achieve that objective.
We support the intervention by Brazil that all the other Chairs of the negotiating bodies should speed up their work and try to narrow the difference between Members as much as possible.
As for the scope of modalities to be concluded around Easter, I believe we are now facing a dilemma. One possibility is that we focus on AG and NAMA which is at the centre of the negotiations and we have the mandate from Hong Kong Ministerial. China would not have great difficulties along that line. At the same time we are fully aware that many Members have concerns on other issues. It is necessary to provide comfort for them as this is single-undertaking. In that case, we have to clearly define what are those issues to be dealt with and at what level of details. The inclusions of other issues must be balanced in reflecting the various concerns of different Members and the level of specificity should be different from AG and NAMA as we do not have enough time to deal with all the issues at such a short period of time.
Finally, at each stage Members have to make collective assessment before entering into horizontal process or the involvement of the Ministers for political decisions. The principle of inclusiveness and transparency and bottom-up approach are crucial at this period for success.
Thank you Mr. Chairman
(31 January 2008) |
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