Taiwan will try to coordinate its negotiating activities with nations adopting similar trade positions in the upcoming WTO ministerial meeting, in order to maximize the possible benefits to the nation, a foreign ministry official said yesterday.
The government has appointed two trade-related officials to lead the delegation at the next round of WTO talks, scheduled to take place in Cancun, Mexico, from Sept. 11 to Sept. 14, according to Yu Chin-jung (
Minister of Economic Affairs Lin Yi-fu (
The nation's delegation to the Cancun meeting will seek to conduct bilateral talks with its counterparts to discuss economic and trade issues and to establish informal channels of communication in order to expand Taiwan's external ties, Yu said.
"What Taiwan is most concerned about are issues such as market access for agricultural and non-agricultural products as well as the service sector," said Yu.
Taiwan will seek to establish alliances with nations that have adopted similar positions on various trade issues, so as to improve its negotiating leverage during the meeting, added Yu.
The Cancun round of trade-liberalization talks is slated to review the progress made by members of the global trade regulatory body since the last round of multilateral talks in Doha, Qatar, two years ago.
The negotiators hope that a policy decision can be made through consultation with high-ranking trade officials, so that talks on issues from the Doha round will be completed as scheduled by Jan. 1 of next year, Yu said.
Meanwhile, sources said Supachai Panitchpakdi, director-general of the WTO, has "softened" his stance on attempting to downgrade the status of Taiwan's mission to the body following talks with various WTO bodies.
A foreign observer revealed that Supachai was facing grumbling from key WTO players -- such as the US, the EU, New Zealand and Australia -- since he presented his `five-point' request to Taiwan's mission in February.
Even Thailand made it clear that Supachai's request did not represent the Thai government's position, the foreign observer said.
Yu confirmed the observer's comments.
"[Supachai's] position is not as firm as it used to be, back in February and March," Yu said.
Yen Ching-chang (顏慶章), Taiwan's permanent representative to the WTO, met with Supachai on June 16, saying it was unacceptable for Taiwan to allow the English title of its permanent mission to be changed unilaterally by the WTO Secretariat in the WTO's phone directory, insiders said.
In a telegram to the mission in June, the foreign ministry suggested the delegation attempt what one official called "dynamic engagement" in talking with the WTO Secretariat regarding the unresolved issue.
Taiwan would, however, consider making concessions in other areas -- such as altering the wording of certain phrases that connote sovereignty in Taiwan's official papers presented to the body, Yu revealed.
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