GENEVA (AFP) - Trading nations kicked off negotiations on cutting red tape and streamlining costly and cumbersome customs procedures, a key component of the Doha round of trade liberalisation talks at the World Trade Organisation.
The WTO's negotiating group on trade facilitation agreed on a six-point work plan, including another meeting next week and five more meetings in the first half of 2005, a trade source said.
"Starting today, the Doha negotiations have a new subject, that is trade facilitation," the source added after the negotiating group met at WTO headquarters in Geneva.
The Doha round was launched in the Qatari capital in November 2001 and is aimed at reducing or eliminating barriers to global trade.
As developing countries underlined the impact of customs red tape on their own exports, the negotiating group agreed to start with negotiations on enhancing technical assistance for countries.
Mainly poor countries are likely to benefit from support and finance to streamline and modernise their customs services in an eventual deal.
During the meeting, Djibouti, Indonesia, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan Philippines, Uruguay and Zambia reiterated the need to focus on what is known as "capacity building".
A long-standing European demand that the topic -- part of the so-called "Singapore issues" -- should be included in the trade talks was only satisfied during negotiations in Geneva in July when the EU shifted away from a focus on drawing up binding trade facilitation rules.
The work plan agreed Monday also included talks on special and differential treatment for poor countries and specific talks on the needs of least developed nations.
The World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) -- which are regarded as key financiers for the project -- as well as the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), were invited to attend to negotiations, the trade source said.
As import tariffs have been lowered under the free trade regime governed by the WTO, some countries have complained that the cost of complying with customs formalities now often exceeds the additional cost of import duties.
A study by the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation group (APEC) estimated that trade facilitation measures could cut import prices by one to two percent and generate gains equivalent to 0.26 percent of Gross Domestic Product among its member states.
Customs red tape is also regarded as a major obstacle for small and medium-sized companies, discouraging them from trading outside their domestic markets, while exporters of perishable goods -- mainly farm produce -- can also suffer from delays at frontiers.
Developing countries argued during the meeting that obstacles to cross-border transport affected their exports.
Rwanda said transport costs across multiple borders in Africa increased distribution costs for landlocked countries by 50 percent.
11/15/2004 - 19:32 GMT - AFP