Financial Services Industry: Further Financial Services Liberalization Essential to Doha Round Success

Geneva, Switzerland (PRWEB) February 10, 2005

In a statement released today, the Financial Leaders Group (FLG) called for urgent progress in financial services negotiations taking place within the Doha Development Agenda of global trade talks. "Financial services...are an absolute prerequisite of modern economies." The statement said. However, the WTO negotiations on financial services “are not being pursued with vigor and political will commensurate with the sector’s contribution to advancing growth.”

The FLG includes the leading financial services companies and associations from Australia, Canada, the EU, Hong Kong, Japan, Switzerland and the US, and its statement emphasized that financial services negotiations are critical to the overall success of the Doha Round. The FLG urged WTO members to submit financial services offers expeditiously, and pointed out that many WTO members have yet to submit initial offers, despite a deadline of March 2003. Many of those offers that have been submitted offer little new liberalization.

"The Doha Round represents the first opportunity since the 1997 Financial Services Agreement to realize meaningful liberalization of financial services on a multilateral basis. It is an opportunity that we must not fail to seize." Said Norman Sorensen, Chairman of the Coalition of Service Industries and President of Principal International, Inc. The Coalition of Service Industries is a founding member of the FLG, and is the leading U.S. business association representing the spectrum of service sectors.

The FLG statement is available at http://www.uscsi.org/doc/FLGstatement021005.doc. For more on the Financial Leaders Group, visit http://www.flwg.org.

Contact:

Ekrem Sarper

+ 1 202 413-7214

sarper@uscsi.org

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CSI is the leading business organization dedicated to reducing barriers to U.S. services exports and mobilizing support for domestic U.S. policies, including tax policies, which enhance the global competitiveness of its members. CSI was formed in 1982 to ensure that U.S. trade in services would become a central goal of U.S. trade policy and trade negotiations. CSI’s knowledge of the process of services trade negotiations, its ties to the WTO and its network of relationships with governments and industry in other countries are unmatched. For a complete list of CSI members, visit our website at http://www.uscsi.org.