Trade and Investment Issues in the WTO and APEC

2003-2005

This task force will continue with the study group format that has worked well in the current period.  It will operate study groups on those critical negotiating issues such as agriculture, services, investment, and trade facilitation where the Forum has the necessary expertise and capacity available within its network.

The study groups will analyze the selected issues at all levels where they are relevant: multilateral (WTO), APEC, regional and national.  A key focus will be the APEC mid-term review in 2005 and the need to be in the position to assess accurately APEC’s progress across the IAP chapters.  The relationship between liberalization at the multilateral and regional level has also become an increasingly important question in some issue areas.

Elements of the agenda (2003-2005) will include:

• Agriculture: the study group will work with PBEC to produce quality analysis on the key concerns of business in the agriculture negotiations.  The relationship between agricultural liberalization at the regional and multilateral levels, where some aspects can be handled at the regional level while others can only be handled satisfactorily at the multilateral level, will also be a focus of investigation.

• Services: The relationship between liberalization at the regional and multilateral levels has been highlighted as a key area of concern in recent discussions of regional fora and will be one of the key issues to be analyzed by the services study group.

The Forum would like to see existing unfinished business of the competition and trade facilitation study groups completed in the current cycle.  If sufficient expertise is available it is also hoped to set up a stud group on anti-dumping.  Establishment of further study groups will be considered for issues that are identified as high priorities by member committees and where adequate expertise is available within the Forum’s network.

Trade and Investment Issues in WTO and APEC (2001-2003)
The new WTO round has a wide-ranging and challenging program which will dominate the multilateral trade agenda for at least the next three to five years or so. While new multilateral negotiations and preparations for negotiations are still in their early stages, it is known that the issues that will be covered are also central to the APEC agenda.

APEC members have a strong interest in working to ensure complementarily between the WTO and APEC agenda, so that the WTO negotiations can build on the progress that has already been achieved within the APEC process.

The TIWA task force will aim to produce quality analysis that will assist in identifying ways forward in both the WTO and APEC that take maximum advantage of the respective strengths of the two processes to promote the multilateral and regional trade and investment objectives of APEC members.

The task force has established study groups on investment, competition, trade facilitation, agriculture and services. 

The TIWA is lead by Mari Pangestu, member of the Indonesian National Committee of PECC.