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SCMP Reporter

The World Trade Organisation's future director-general has called for changes to the WTO's entry procedures to simplify the process for countries seeking entry such as the mainland.

 'I would suggest we have definite guidelines, definite time-frames, do not allow excessive demands going beyond the existing WTO agreements, and do not let goal-post shifting be the order of the day,' said Thai Commerce Minister Supachai Panitchpakdi, who will succeed New Zealand's Mike Moore as WTO chief in three years.

 Mr Supachai said existing accession procedures were far too costly and complex.

 He also said it was hypocritical that some WTO applicants be required to accede to liberalisation measures from the Uruguay Round global trade agreement that existing members themselves had not yet even implemented.

  'This, we consider unreasonable,' said Mr Supachai, speaking on the sidelines of an Association of Southeast Asian Nations economic ministers summit in Singapore.

  At present, applicants must negotiate separate bi-lateral accession agreements with all its existing trade partners that are already WTO members. There are no rules, deadlines or frameworks.

  Beijing's application, like 30 or more others, has dragged on for years.

  Mr Supachai suggested a maximum cap of two to three years for a broad entry agreement to be struck once an application had been made.

  In particular, he stressed the importance of finalising the mainland's accession agreements with the United States and others in time to participate in the launch of the WTO's new round of global trade negotiations in Seattle next month.

  'Before the new round begins, China should be part of WTO,' said Mr Supachai. 'If you want to have a universal organisation, we need to have China. We need to have Russia. China is becoming a powerhouse of production.'  He added: 'Because of the increasing purchasing power in the Chinese market, we should be certain of the availability of the Chinese market.'   Mr Supachai, also Thailand's deputy prime minister, said his WTO sources told him there had recently been 'definite progress' in the Sino-US talks over WTO.

  'They are coming closer in spite of the news that it might still be difficult,' he said.

  Mr Supachai's entry concerns appear to be broadly shared across Southeast Asia.

  Vietnamese Finance Minister Nguyen Sinh Hung said: 'The procedures for the process of acceding to WTO are very complex and costly.'  Mr Supachai argued that communist or former communist nations be given more leeway and special assistance.

 'Countries in transition from planned to market economies have more adjustments to introduce than normal market economies,' he said.

  Asean's economic ministers have put forward a broad set of proposals for the WTO this week.

  They endorsed the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation forum's call for the upcoming millennium round of global trade negotiations not to be allowed to drag on for more than three years, be broad-based and include industrial tariffs in addition to the already mandated agenda of agriculture and services.

  However, they have also gone one step further by calling for the WTO's anti-dumping regulations and procedures to be clarified and potentially rewritten.

  Malaysian International Trade and Industry Minister Rafidah Aziz said some industrialised countries had been exploiting the WTO's anti-dumping rules as form of 'protectionism' to shield uncompetitive domestic industries in the face of cheaper Asian imports following the region's currency devaluations.

  'It does not mean we are dumping. It just means we are more competitive,' said Ms Rafidah.



Existing process too complex and expensive, says future chief