Ministry expects full WTO membership next March

Taiwan is expected to officially become a full member of the WTO in March next year, Vice Minister of Economic Affairs Steve Chen (陳瑞隆) said yesterday.

"March appears to be a more reasonable estimate while earlier admission cannot be entirely ruled out," according to Chen, who is also Taiwan's chief WTO negotiator.

After having secured the approval of a working panel in Geneva, Taiwan's WTO entry must be ratified at the WTO's ministerial meeting set for Qatar in November and then undergo parliamentary deliberation at home, he said.

Chen said Taiwan is set to reduce the average nominal tariff rate on 1,021 farm products to 12.90 percent after its WTO entry from 20.02 percent currently. "We will also phase out internal protection on such products and remove export subsidies."

At the same time, the average nominal tariff rate on 3,470 industrial items will be slashed to 4.15 percent eventually from the current 6.03 percent, he said.

Under a quota system, the tariffs on imported cars will be reduced from 30 percent in the first year after Taiwan's WTO entry to 17.5 percent in ten years, he said.

Chen said Taiwan's export trade doesn't require much if any adjustment to comply with trading rules after Taiwan attains formal membership as it has long functioned under a market-oriented economy and already largely conforms to international conventions.

Taiwan-made products stand a good chance of becoming even more competitive thanks to wider access to overseas markets and lower costs for raw material imports, he said.

However, an expected increase in farm imports will certainly have an impact on the domestic agricultural sector, he said.

The vice minister said Taiwan's service industry is unlikely to sustain excessive impact as it has been extensively opened to private and foreign participation over the last 10 years.