Japan Pledges to Give Duty-Free Access for 98 Per Cent of Poor Countries' Goods
Posted on: Sunday, 18 December 2005, 18:10 CST
Text of report in English by Japanese news agency Kyodo
Hong Kong, 19 December: Japan on Sunday [18 December] night pledged to offer duty-free, quota-free market access for about 98 per cent of products originating from least developed countries [LDC] based on the number of items, in line with a just-struck accord at the World Trade Organization meeting.
"At present, we offer such treatment to some 86 per cent of LDC imports, but we will raise the percentage to about 98 per cent by implementing our development package," Japanese Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Shoichi Nakagawa said.
The minister said about 180 items, including politically sensitive products such as rice, sugar, dairy products and leather items, will be excluded from the scheme. But he said LDC's fisheries items such as tuna and shrimp will be granted the duty-free status.
"Furthermore, we will try to raise the coverage rate by reviewing the process every year," Nakagawa said.
Japan had committed itself to providing the duty-free access for "essentially all products" from all LDCs under its initiative announced before the start of the WTO conference in Hong Kong.
After a difficult six days of talks, WTO ministers hammered out a development plan for the poorest nations, which includes the duty- free access for LDC products as its centrepiece.
They agreed that the preferential treatment will be extended to at least 97 per cent of imports from LDCs on a lasting basis and will be implemented by 2008 or no later than the start of the implementation period of the current Doha Round negotiations.
Nakagawa indicated that developing countries which are not designated as LDCs could suffer damages through competition with poorer nations that are granted the preferential treatment, and that WTO ministers also took into consideration such nations' concerns in setting the 97 per cent benchmark.
As for the treatment of sensitive products in the agricultural negotiations, the farm minister said he is satisfied with the accord, which recognizes the need to agree on the issue by taking into account "all the elements involved".
Japan, which is a net food importer and known as a die-hard protectionist of its rice and other sensitive farm items, strongly demanded that the WTO text fend off food exporters' attempt to seek substantial cuts in tariffs of those items, Nakagawa said.
"Because those items are called 'sensitive', they should naturally receive different treatment" on tariff cuts from non- sensitive ones, he said.
Source: BBC Monitoring Asia Pacific
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