Not much impact expected from decision to abandon developing country status at WTO: Experts
- 4 years ago
Following South Korea's decision to abandon its developing country status at the WTO,... experts say the impact will be limited.
Farmers, who are expected to be affected by the decision, however, staged protests urging the government to withdraw the call.
Yoon Jung-min has more on that.
Experts say that South Korea's decision to abandon its developing country status will have little impact in the near future as maintaining the status is not that important when negotiating trade deals.
"Practically, all the significant market liberalization in the agriculture sector is actually done through FTA negotiations. But in the FTA negotiations, the status of developing countries has no meaning whatsoever."
The decision does not affect previously signed trade deals and won’t affect existing tariffs on agricultural imports to Korea for now.
And as for on-going negotiations, the Doha Round, the latest round of trade negotiations among WTO members, has been suspended for more than a decade and there is little possibility of it resuming any time soon.
Some also say Seoul may have considered there is not much to gain from maintaining the status at the cost of locking horns with the U.S. over the issue,... especially at a critical time when the two sides are set to have negotiations on defense cost sharing and tariffs on automobiles.
But despite its limited impact,... some experts point out it is still necessary to protect the local agriculture industry.
"The government needs to directly compensate farmers because most of them are elderly. But, at the same time, we need to strengthen competitiveness in the agriculture industry as a future bio industry."
The government has promised more financial support for the agriculture sector,... but that seems to have done little to relieve the many anxious farmers across the nation.
At a rally in Seoul on Friday, farming groups called for the government to withdraw its decision,... insisting it will only make them worse off due to reduced subsidies and more agricultural goods entering the country from overseas.
Yoon Jung-min, Arirang News.
Farmers, who are expected to be affected by the decision, however, staged protests urging the government to withdraw the call.
Yoon Jung-min has more on that.
Experts say that South Korea's decision to abandon its developing country status will have little impact in the near future as maintaining the status is not that important when negotiating trade deals.
"Practically, all the significant market liberalization in the agriculture sector is actually done through FTA negotiations. But in the FTA negotiations, the status of developing countries has no meaning whatsoever."
The decision does not affect previously signed trade deals and won’t affect existing tariffs on agricultural imports to Korea for now.
And as for on-going negotiations, the Doha Round, the latest round of trade negotiations among WTO members, has been suspended for more than a decade and there is little possibility of it resuming any time soon.
Some also say Seoul may have considered there is not much to gain from maintaining the status at the cost of locking horns with the U.S. over the issue,... especially at a critical time when the two sides are set to have negotiations on defense cost sharing and tariffs on automobiles.
But despite its limited impact,... some experts point out it is still necessary to protect the local agriculture industry.
"The government needs to directly compensate farmers because most of them are elderly. But, at the same time, we need to strengthen competitiveness in the agriculture industry as a future bio industry."
The government has promised more financial support for the agriculture sector,... but that seems to have done little to relieve the many anxious farmers across the nation.
At a rally in Seoul on Friday, farming groups called for the government to withdraw its decision,... insisting it will only make them worse off due to reduced subsidies and more agricultural goods entering the country from overseas.
Yoon Jung-min, Arirang News.