WTO: Deal on ITA expansion within reach

Negotiators from 54 WTO members edged close to agreement on Saturday on an accord which would expand the Information Technology Agreement (ITA) and eliminate tariffs on an additional list of roughly 200 products valued at about 1 trillion U.S. dollars in annual trade.

WTO announced in a press release that the products covered by the extension include new generation semi-conductors, GPS navigation equipment and medical equipment, including magnetic resonance imaging products and ultra-sonic scanning apparatus.

WTO added that the list of products and the draft declaration which spells out how the agreement would be implemented have been sent to capitals for review and members have until Friday to give final approval.

"This is a big deal," said WTO Director-General Roberto Azevedo. "The trade covered in this agreement is comparable to annual global trade in iron, steel, textiles and clothing combined. By taking this step, WTO members will help to provide a jump-start to the global economy and underline the WTO's role as the central global forum for trade negotiations."

According to WTO's principle, while not all WTO members participated in these negotiations, all will benefit from the outcome because the participants will scrap duties on imports of these products regardless of which WTO member has produced them.

When the product list and draft declaration are approved, WTO negotiators will spend several months hammering out the technical details and the timetable for tariff elimination. The objective would be for all elements to be completed in time for ministers of those members who are involved in this initiative to sign the ITA expansion agreement at the 10th Ministerial Conference in Nairobi in December.

The Information Technology Agreement was finalized in 1997 and covers 80 WTO members. Efforts to expand the coverage of this agreement were launched in 2012. It would be the first tariff-cutting agreement in the WTO for 18 years. Endit