12:05 PM Jan 30, 1995

COMPROMISE TALKS ON TEXTILES DEADLOCK

Geneva 30 Jan (Chakravarthi Raghavan) -- The deadlock over the composition of the Textiles Monitoring Body of the World Trade Organization may be nearer solution, enabling the General Council of the WTO to hold its first meeting Tuesday, trade diplomats said over the weekend.

The developing countries in the WTO at a meeting last week had indicated that without a solution to the TMB, other WTO bodies to monitor and administer other agreements could not be constituted either, and this may result in postponing the session of the WTO General Council set for 31 January.

In December, GATT Director-General Peter Sutherland had put forward a compromise formula (on a take-it-or-leave-it basis) of various constituencies to elect ten members of the TMB.

But the European Union had balked at accepting it.

Even as this hurdle was being crossed, with the EU willing to go along reluctantly, a new problem was raised by the United States which objected to China being named with Pakistan in one constituency, arguing that China is not a WTO member and can't be included. The Sutherland formula also has a few others, not yet members of the WTO including Poland, Egypt, Tunisia. These and many others, whose schedules etc have been accepted and thus eligible to be WTO members are yet to complete their domestic processes and thus at the moment are not WTO members.

But their position, the US contends, is not on a par with China still to win entry into the WTO.

A compromise being discussed is to have Sutherland make a statement at the WTO General Council, to reiterate that TMB decisions are to be taken by consensus and that if China is not a WTO member by 1 January next, the exporters would suggest an alternate to Pakistan in that constituency.

Exporting developing countries are reported to have indicated their willingness to accept this, but nothing more, and that they will not engage in further negotiations.

The major importing countries, US and EU particularly, were due to convey to the GATT Deputy Director-General Anwar Hoda who has been conducting these consultations, their stand.