Government should heed WTO call

Government should heed WTO call to ramp up Services Negotiations

The Wellington Regional Chamber of Commerce strongly agrees with the latest call from WTO Director General, Pascal Lamy to shift services negotiations into “a higher gear”.

In a recently delivered speech Mr Lamy said that political ambition “is the element that has been missing from the services negotiations and which is urgently needed to ensure substantive progress.”

“We agree with Mr Lamy that a successful conclusion of the Doha Round will need a positive outcome to the services negotiations, said Chamber CEO Charles Finny.

“The services negotiations are the key to unlocking the talks. A successful conclusion to this round is not going to be achievable without significant progress having been achieved on services.

”For key countries to agree to liberalisation of trade in difficult areas such as agriculture there will need to be some progress in areas where they seek changes, such as trade in services.

“To date there has been virtually no liberalisation offered in services. We call on New
Zealand to redouble efforts to ensure progress is made in the WTO services negotiations.

“Not only do services negotiations have the potential to break the current impasse, they are crucial in their own right.

“Services are increasingly important to the New Zealand economy. Business New Zealand’s Performance of Services Index, released yesterday, shows that the sector continues to expand strongly.

“The Wellington region’s economy is one of the most dependent on the service activities of any region in New Zealand. 90% of our regional GDP is generated by services activity”, Mr Finny concluded.

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