Agriculture-Service Industry Alerts On Rapids of `New Round`

The `New Round,` the multi-lateral trade negotiation, is highly expected to launch in November this year, anticipating a great stir on the domestic agricultural and service industry.

Korea Institute for International Economic Policy and the Trade Negotiation Headquarters anticipated the high possibility that the `New Round,` which follows after the Uruguay Round (UR), launches at the 4th ministerial meeting of the WTO in Qatar on November 9-11.

Hwang Du-Hyung, the chairperson of TNH, said that ``the efforts for the early launch of the New Round, which failed at the 3rd meeting in Chicago 1999, has been rapidly accelerated recently. Despite the tight timetable, most countries are trying to launch the New Round.``

At the New Round, member countries will discuss not only the additional negotiations about the market openings of the agriculture and service industry that had been dealt at UR, but also other various issues that reflect the technological improvement in the period to prepare for the new trade orders.

The government plans to actively participate in the discussion and the selection of agendas, changing its passive attitude at UR for the matter of rice-market opening.

Han Kap-Su, Minister of Agriculture and Forestry, stated that the government will pay its best effort to preserve the developing country status in the agricultural industry and the exemption of the rice-tariffs.``

At the ministerial meetings, the member countries will adjust their various interests. While Korea, EU, and Japan want to include the anti-dumping investment competition as an agenda to recover the weak agriculture-service industry, the U.S. tries to complete the negotiation as soon as possible by reducing the agendas and the negotiation period. The developing countries have requested the implementation of the decided agreements at UR.

Choi Nak-Gyun, the director of the trade investment bureau of KIEP, explained that ``the Korean agriculture and service industry may influence the launch of NR, but the impact would be significant since Korea has already opened the finance and service market. Furthermore, when the free trade market is expanded by the New Round, the atmosphere for the Korean export will be improved.``

Kim Sang-Chul sckim007@donga.com