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APEC forum settles on `Swiss formula'

Trade ministers from 21 Asia-Pacific nations yesterday agreed on a formula to be used to cut tariffs on non-agricultural products, organizers said.

The ministers attending the APEC forum adopted the so-called "Swiss formula" to calculate future tariff reductions in the non-agricultural market access (NAMA) field.

The agreement was a setback for developing countries who were pushing for a different method that was viewed as more tolerant of their higher protectionist tariff rates.

"This 2005 Jeju APEC meeting continues to follow the successful path of the recent meetings, by bringing to fruition a consensus on supporting [the] Swiss formula as the tariff-reduction formula," said South Korea's trade minister Kim Hyun-Chong, who chaired the two-day forum which ended yesterday.

"This achievement in NAMA will provide the much needed political impetus to the NAMA Doha negotiations," Kim said.

Differences over how to calculate future tariff cuts in non-agricultural products have emerged as a major stumbling block in the WTO's effort to come up with a viable plan by July.

The "breakthrough" is particularly positive for all WTO members as they prepare for the much anticipated WTO Ministerial Conference in Hong Kong in December, APEC said in a press statement.

Separately, Brunei, Chile, New Zealand and Singapore have agreed to create the first trans-Pacific free-trade agreement, officials said yesterday.

More than 90 percent of trade among the four countries will be duty-free after the pact takes effect next year, officials from the four countries said in a joint statement. The countries will sign the agreement at an unspecified later date.

The agreement will help build "a bridge between Latin America, the Pacific and Asia," the officials said.

The pact ``will encourage Brunei, Chile, Singapore and New Zealand to pool their expertise, ideas, technology and resources to improve their competitiveness on the global market,'' a statement from Singapore's the Ministry of Trade and Industry said.

Under negotiation since 2002, the agreement will also allow all four to compete with domestic suppliers for most government contracts, the statement said.
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