Jul 21, 1987

GATT COUNCIL DEFERS NICARAGUA CASE TO NEXT MEETING.

GENEVA, JULY 17 (IFDA/CHAKRAVARTHI RAGHAVAN) – The GATT Council Friday deferred till its next meeting further consideration of the subject of U.S. trade sanctions against Nicaragua, and any action on the GATT panel’s report on it.

Day-long consultation apparently failed to break the deadlock, and arrive at a formula that be acceptable to both sides, avoid a formal decision by vote, and enable the panel report to be adopted.

When the Council met Friday evening, the chairman, Alan Oxley of Australia, simply announced he had engaged in consultations, but that he had not yet succeeded in finding a basis on which he could draw a conclusion.

Mexico wanted the draft chairman’s conclusion, it had informally put forward Thursday on behalf of Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Peru and Uruguay, to be formally circulated as a Council document.

Oxley announced he would continue his consultations, and the subject would be put on the agenda of the next meeting.

According to tentative GATT calendar, the next meeting is set for October.