FACTBOX-EU shows its teeth in long-term trade goals

Published 10/22/2010, 12:15 PM
Updated 10/22/2010, 12:20 PM

BRUSSELS, Oct 22 (Reuters) - The EU will act against any country that denies it access to scarce raw materials or energy resources it needs for growth, according to a draft document setting out its 10-year trade agenda.

Such aims could ratchet up tension with China and Russia.

Here are some of the policy goals contained in a draft of the EU's 2020 trade strategy, set to be unveiled by EU trade chief Karel De Gucht next month, and obtained by Reuters.

NEGOTIATING AGENDA

* Complete Doha round of trade talks at the World Trade Organization in 2011.

* Press on with free-trade talks with India, Canada, Singapore, Indonesia, Mercosur bloc; launch new trade negotiations with Southeast Asian countries in ASEAN bloc; start separate investment talks with key partners such as China.

* Pursue closer ties with United States, Japan, China and Russia.

* Push for tariff cuts for environmental goods and services; push for continued tariff moratorium on electronic goods.

* Pursue innovative production; boost funds to retrain low-skilled European Union workers, also focusing on farmers.

PLANS FOR 2011

* Create a legal instrument to secure access to lucrative public works contracts abroad.

* Monitor trade barriers and restrictions to rare commodity exports by foreign powers. Produce, from 2011 onwards, an annual report as a key instrument to monitor trade barriers and protectionist measures and trigger appropriate enforcement action.

* Launch policy debate linking trade and development goals.

* Start reform of trade preference regime for developing countries, known as Generalised System of Preferences.

* Find EU-wide agreement on how to phase out some 1,200 bilateral investment treaties between EU member countries and foreign states, and replace them with a pan-EU equivalent.

* Launch debate in EU on how to increase flow of trade in goods and services, both within the EU and with other countries. (Reporting by Juliane von Reppert-Bismarck; editing by Rex Merrifield)

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