São Paulo – The World Trade Organization (WTO) announced this Friday (24th) the confirmation of the agreements that foresees the abolition of taxes in the trade of 201 IT (Information Technology) products. The meeting held during the afternoon at the organization’s headquarters, in Geneva, confirmed the previous treaty that was negotiated by 54 member countries of the organization on July 18th.
According to the WTO’s press release, this is a market that is worth US$ 1.3 trillion in the world per year and represents 7% of the global trade. “This is larger than global trade in automotive products, or trade in textiles, clothing, iron and steel combined”, declared the organization’s director-general, the Brazilian Roberto Azêvedo, in the press release.
Azêvedo said that the abolition of tariffs in a market this large will have an enormous impact since it will result in price reduction, job creation and a boost for the worldwide economy. The negotiations started in 2012.
The agreement is an extension of another treaty on the topic, signed in 1996 by 81 countries. The WTO has 161 members. Brazil is not one of the signatories of this Friday’s document. For the director-general, however, the agreement benefits all members because they will have access to market free of tariffs in the countries that did sign.
According to the organization, the governments of the 54 countries that signed the agreement will present their plans for its implementation at the 10th WTO Ministerial Conference, to be held in Nairobi, Kenya, in December.
The treaty foresees the abolition of tariffs in a three-year period starting in 2016. Among the items included are new-generation semiconductors, GPS navigation systems, medical equipment such as magnetic resonance devices, machine-tools for the manufacturing of printed circuits, telecommunication satellites and touch-screen displays.
To Azêvedo, the agreement is a milestone. “This is the first major tariff-cutting dealt at the WTO in 18 years”, he pointed out, according to the organization’s press release. He added, however, that this occurs just a little after the approval, unanimously, of a trade facilitation agreement in Bali, Indonesia, in 2013. “It shows that the multilateral trading system can deliver”, emphasized the diplomat.
“The WTO has now negotiated two deals in the space of two years which deliver real, economically significant results. I hope that this success will inspire members in other areas of our negotiations.”
*Translated by Sérgio Kakitani
