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OO RUEHAG RUEHAP RUEHDE RUEHDF RUEHGI RUEHHM RUEHLZ RUEHMR RUEHPA
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DE RUEHTC #0356/01 0471519
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 161519Z FEB 06
FM AMEMBASSY THE HAGUE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 4848
INFO RUCNWTO/WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUCPDOC/USDOC WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA PRIORITY 1291

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 THE HAGUE 000356 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EUR/UBI, EUR/ERA, EB/TPP/MTA (AWHITTEN) 
STATE PASS USTR FOR BLISS AND MELLY 
 
GENEVA FOR USTR ALICIA GREENIDGE 
 
USDOC FOR 4212/USFCS/MAC/EUR/OWE/DCALVERT 
 
E.O. 12356: N/A 
TAGS: ECON ETRD WTO PREL EUN NL
SUBJECT: USTR OFFICIALS BRIEF DUTCH ON USG WTO SERVICES 
POSITION 
 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED.  PLEASE TREAT ACCORDINGLY. 
 
¶1.  (SBU) SUMMARY.  Senior USTR representatives recently met 
with Dutch trade officials to reinforce the USG commitment 
to seeking an "ambitious" agreement on services negotiations 
within the WTO Doha Round.  Despite concerns about progress 
to date, meeting participants agreed on the need to 
intensify efforts, including work plans on market access and 
actual texts on domestic regulations.  Rules discussions, 
they agreed, remained largely an "information gathering" 
exercise at this point.  This cable was cleared by USTR. 
END SUMMARY. 
 
¶2.  (U)  On January 31, Christine Bliss, Acting Assistant 
USTR for Services and Investment, and Christopher Melly, 
Director of Services Trade Negotiations, discussed progress 
on services negotiations within the WTO Doha Development 
Round with Willem van der Leeuw, Deputy Director of the 
Trade Policy and Investment Department, Ministry of Economic 
Affairs (MEA), Wieger Wiersema, Senior Policy Officer for 
Services Negotiations, Trade Policy and Investment 
Department, MEA, and Hanneke Boerma, Policy Officer for 
Trade Issues, European Cooperation Department, Ministry of 
Foreign Affairs. 
 
NOTHING TO SHOW ON SERVICES? 
---------------------------- 
 
¶3.  (SBU)  Bliss began by noting that the USG remained 
"ambitious" on seeking agreement on all elements of the 
current services negotiations (market access, domestic 
regulations, rules, and development).  Given recent rumors 
to the contrary, van der Leeuw welcomed this confirmation. 
He remarked on the poor state of services negotiations to 
date, adding that the offers currently on the table had not 
met Dutch and EU expectations.  The Dutch had also been 
disappointed at the WTO Ministerial in Hong Kong by a lack 
of ambition on services by developing countries.  While 
agriculture was clearly an important issue for developing 
countries, a balanced outcome was also needed, including 
movement on services negotiations.  Moreover, the EU (i.e., 
the French) believed that it had moved on agriculture 
without receiving anything in return in the areas of 
services and non-agricultural market access (NAMA). 
 
¶4. (SBU)  Van der Leeuw was hopeful that plurilateral 
discussions would help to move the talks forward.  Like the 
U.S., the Netherlands has a strong services sector 
(accounting for over 70 percent of GDP) that is dependent on 
greater international market access for growth.  Key sectors 
of interest for the Dutch included financial, transport, 
distribution, environmental, and postal/express delivery 
services.  Van der Leeuw stressed that the Dutch sought to 
focus their efforts on those sectors where results were 
feasible. 
 
WORK PLAN NEEDED ON MARKET ACCESS 
--------------------------------- 
 
¶5.  (SBU)  Relative to other negotiations and in light of 
the breakdown in talks at Cancun in 2003, Bliss offered that 
the lack of progress on services was primarily due to 
factors outside the services area.  She expressed concern 
that a plurilateral path might not result in effective 
negotiations, and indicated that the collective discussions 
should not replace the bilateral request-offer process, 
which promised the best opportunity to pursue individual 
priorities.  She also cautioned that the July 31 deadline 
for services negotiations should not be used as an excuse 
for delaying parallel movements on agriculture talks. 
Instead, it was now important to intensify all efforts, 
including a push for actual work plans on market access in 
services so that Ministers would have a clear signal in 
April concerning the progress of the three main negotiating 
areas (services, agriculture, and manufactured goods). 
 
¶6.  (SBU)  Wiersema agreed on the need to intensify 
bilateral discussions, but suggested that finding a critical 
mass that was willing to talk could be the only way to move 
forward at this stage.  He also questioned whether it would 
be difficult for the U.S. to request liberalization on 
 
THE HAGUE 00000356  002 OF 002 
 
 
insurance, especially in light of U.S. market access 
limitations at the state level.  While the USG expected 
certain limitations at the state level, as the EU might 
encounter at the national level, Bliss assured the Dutch 
that the USG was committed to aggressive offers on insurance 
and financial services in general. 
 
¶7.  (SBU)  Bliss also highlighted the importance to the U.S. 
of telecommunications and remaining differences between the 
U.S. and EU on the definition of value-added.  She cautioned 
that the EU offer in this area had been viewed as a rollback 
and stressed the need for the U.S. and the EU to resolve 
this issue before others used it as another reason for not 
moving forward.  Frank talks were also needed on content and 
how to cover future platforms. 
 
MODE 4 -- NO EXCUSE FOR FURTHER MOVEMENT 
---------------------------------------- 
 
¶8.  (SBU)  Bliss worried that countries like Brazil and 
India were using Mode 4 (temporary entry of persons who 
provide services) as an excuse for no movement on services. 
The USG recognized the importance of Mode 4 services, both 
to U.S. industries and to U.S. trading partners.  However, 
commitments made by the U.S. on Mode 4 services remained 
some of the best among WTO members. 
 
MOVING TO TEXT ON DOMESTIC REGULATIONS 
-------------------------------------- 
 
¶9.  (SBU)  Bliss noted that India, which had the lead on 
domestic regulations, was seeking greater commitments on 
contractual service suppliers in the area of horizontal 
disciplines on qualifications, standards and licensing 
requirements.  This approach had caused problems for the 
U.S., as American professional associations and state 
regulators were concerned that it would create pressure to 
lower existing standards, especially for accountants, 
engineers, architects and medical professionals. 
 
¶10.  (SBU)  Wiersema stressed the importance of getting 
legal text on domestic regulations presented.  Bliss agreed, 
adding that any text would need to be tabled by April to 
ensure agreement by year's end.  Additional issue papers 
would only result in further delays. 
 
RULES - AN INFORMATION GATHERING EXERCISE 
----------------------------------------- 
 
¶11.  (SBU)  On rules discussions, meeting participants 
agreed that this was largely an "information gathering 
exercise" at this point.  Bliss said Malaysia had raised the 
issue of emergency safeguard mechanisms (ESM), but was 
largely seeking "political comfort." 
 
BLAKEMAN