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Senior government officials from major steel-producing economies(1) will meet in Paris on 28-29 June 2004 to (i) discuss global steel market and capacity developments, and (ii) explore ways to advance work on an agreement to reduce or eliminate government subsidies to the steel industry. Work on the subsidies agreement has reached a critical stage. A complete negotiating text reflecting the positions of participants has been drafted.
In order to advance the talks, the High-Level Group will now need to consider how to address issues in three key areas: (i) exceptions to a blanket ban on subsidies; (ii) the nature and scope of special and differential treatment for developing economies; and (iii) the "actionability" of pre-notified, subsidies that were "approved" by Parties to countervailing duty cases.
The structure and timeframes for further work will also be discussed.
(1) Delegates are likely to include officials from Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Korea, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russian Federation, Slovak Republic, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Chinese Taipei, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States and the European Commission.
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