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The European Services Forum (ESF) is a network of representatives from the European services sector.
We are committed to actively promoting the interests of the European services
sector and the liberalisation of services markets throughout the world in connection with the
WTO GATS
negotiations
as well as with the regional and bilateral trade negotiations.
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The European Services
Forum is a co-sponsor of the Global
Services Summit organised by the US Coalition of Service Industries.
The summit will take place in Washington on 13 and 14 October 2009. The Global
Services Summit 2009 will raise the political and public profile of
services and by bringing together the key policy makers, thinkers, and stake
holders who can represent and advance services trade around the world, will seek
to generate support for a trade policy that recognizes the central role that
services play in economic growth and development.
The list of confirmed
participants includes leading global policy-makers such as United States Trade
Representative Ron Kirk;European Commissioner for Trade Catherine Ashton;World
Trade Organization Director-General Pascal Lamy;Australian Minister Simon
Crean;India Trade Minister Anand Sharma, etc.
For futher
information and registration, please refer to the Summit
web site.
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EPAs
with ACP countries: need for more legal security for fdi
At the EU-ESA Business Forum that took place
as side meeting of the signing
ceremony of the Interim EPA between the EU and some East Southern Africa region
in Mauritius on 27 and 28 August 2009, ESF Managing Director called upon the
negotiators of the on-going services and investment EPA negotiations on the
necessity to give further legal security to potential foreign direct investors
in the region, so that they will contribute to the sustainable development of
the local economies, by investing on the infrastructural services like
telecommunication services, financial services, transport and logistic services,
etc. more
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ESF
Letter to Barroso on EU-Korea FTA
ESF Chairman
Christoffer Taxell, on behalf ESF company leaders and ESF sector specific trade
associations, sent today, 6th July 2009 a letter
to the President of the European Commission, Mr. José Manuel Barroso,
calling for the rapid conclusion of the Free Trade Agreement (“FTA”)
which has been negotiated between the European Union and the Republic of South Korea.
The
schedule of commitments in services and establishment negotiated can contribute
significantly to improve conditions of trade in services and investment in
Korea. Furthermore, the liberalising
services commitments in the agreement will establish an important precedent for
similar FTA agreements with other trading partners.
We
strongly encouraged the negotiators and the Member States to find swiftly a
satisfactory way to resolve the outstanding issues. We asked too that the larger
and economically more significant interests of those sectors of the economy
which stand greatly to benefit from the agreement be given the highest priority
in the definition of the EU’s negotiating strategy. We
urged the European Union not to let slip the current opportunity to finalise
this agreement nor to lose the clear benefits which it can supply to the
European economy.
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ESF Managing Director, PascalKerneis,
participated at a seminar organised by the Center for European Policy Studies
(CEPS) on “The
New Economic and Free Trade Agreement between the EU and
Canada
”
in
cooperation with the Délégation Générale du Québec
in Brussels
on 29th June
2009. The Premier
of Quebec Mr. Jean Charest and the Premier of Manitoba Mr. Gary Doer
launched the debate with an opening speech on the expectations from the new
EU-Canada agreement and what it means for transatlantic relations. Philippe de
Buck, Director General of BUSINESSEUROPE and Mr. Roy MacLaren,
the Canadian chairman of the Canada-European Union Round-Table for Business
(CERT) and former Canadian Minister of International Trade, were
also
among the speakers.
Mr.
Kerneis took this opportunity to call the negotiators for an ambitious agreement
on trade in services and investment, that should engage all decision makers
on the various services sectors, either at federal and governmental levels or
national, provincial and local governments and regulatory agencies and
authorities.
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ESF
Director participated to a seminar organised by the Islamic
Development Bank (IDB) on trade in services in Casablanca (Morocco) on 15-17
June 2009. The seminar gathered trade in services negotiators from more
than 15 French speaking countries of the North and West Africa, as well as few
English speaking countries of that region that are member of the IDB. It
was an occasion to highlight the necessray links between trade and investment in
serivecs sectors and sustainable economic development.
Mr.
Kerneis took also this opportunity to meet with Mr. Khalid Sayah, Director of
International Trade Relations in the Ministry of Foreign Trade, and Chief
Negotiator of the ongoing trade in services and investment negotiations with the
EU, in the framework of the Euromed agreement. He underlined the
importance of the legal security of the investment through binding commitments
and presented the ESF priorities.
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An ESF Delegation went to Geneva on 2 April,
during the "Services Week" where trade negotiators from WTO members
met in various configurations (Council for Trade in Services in normal and
special session, the various sub-committees and working parties, the sector
specific "Friends Group", etc. ESF met with Ambassadors and
Capital based delegates of major trading partners to reiterates the support of
the European services companies for a quick resumption of the DDA talks.
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Global
Services Coalition letter to G20 leaders before London Summit
The GSC issued on 12
March 2009, in advance of the G20
London Summit, a
letter send to all G20 leaders. The letter calls for a renewal and
strengthening of the "standstill" on new trade barriers, and for the
WTO to closely monitor adherence to the standstill. The standstill was
first agreed to by the G-20 group of countries at their meeting in November of
2008, but has been breached repeatedly, despite their call to fight against
protectionism.
It also reiterates the importance of an ambitious outcome to the Doha
Round in helping restore global economic growth. It underlines
that now is the time for a clear political decision to conclude the negotiations
of the Doha Round by the end of this year.
Furthermore, the coalition invites the negotiators to an early deadline
for the tabling of schedules of new and improved WTO services commitments.
“This will enable progress to be made on delayed services negotiations and
ensure that the trade commitments actively sought by the economically important
services sectors could also contribute meaningfully to global economic
recovery”, the Coalition says.
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ESF
at the Parliament hearing on Mode 4 ESF
participated to the Hearing
organised by the Committee on
International Trade (INTA) of the European Parliament on "Trade
in Services in Mode 4 and Circulation of Workers" (WTO GATS - Agreement on
Services) that took place on 19th January 2009. In
its presentation, ESF argued
in favour of a quick adoption
of the proposal for a directive on "Blue Cards" and of the proposal
for a directive on a single
application procedure for a single work/residence permit for third country
nationals that enter the EU through a trade relation, so as to improve the
attractiveness of the EU. ESF also called for better Mode 4 offers by the
EU key trading partners, eitherin the framework of the WTO negotiations or
through the ongoing bilateral and regional trade negotiations.
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European Service Industries strongly supports EU-Korea trade deal:
ESF Chairman Christoffer
Taxell sent on 10 November 2008 a letter
to EU Trade Commissioner Ashton on the on-going FTA negotiations between the
European Union and
South Korea
, urging the EU Chief Negotiator to conclude a deal with strong services
components.
The
European Services Forum has just come back from a mission in
South Korea
where daily difficulties for the European services companies on the ground have
been identified and assessed. It is clear that only proper trade
negotiations will give the necessary boost to prompt the government into further
reforms. That is the reason why the European services industry strongly
supports the conclusion of a bilateral free trade agreement between the European
Union and
South Korea
. Such an agreement should bind the current level of openness by the
Korean legislation towards the foreign services suppliers. The offer by
Korea
in the signed Korea-United States free trade agreement should form the basis of
an agreement with the EU. Furthermore, new market access should be
negotiated in sectors that are of importance to our companies, like in
telecommunications, maritime transport and news agencies, and market
opportunities should be improved by negotiating further concessions in legal
services and financial services.
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GSC call to G20 to refrain from protectionism in international trade and resume DDA talks
as a response to the financial crisis: The Global Services Coalition issued on
3 November 2008 a letter urging leaders of the G-20 group of nations to use their
upcoming meeting in Washington, DC to make a "forceful
commitment" to refrain from raising new barriers to international
trade. The letter
sent to the leaders of the G-20, was signed on by more than a dozen leading services
associations from around the world. It urges the G-20 to resist protectionist
temptations, and to commit to resuming the Doha negotiations in earnest. The
participants of the so-called G-20 who will attend the Whashington Summit on 15
November 2008 will be: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Britain, Canada, China,
France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Russia,
Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, the United States and the European Union. -------------------------------------------- ESF
Director made a presentation at the "International Services Forum"
that was organised in Taipei (Taiwan) on 28 October 2008 by the Taiwan Coalition
of Service Industries, the General Chamber of Commerce of Taiwan and the
Taiwanese Bureau of Foreign Trade. The presentation was entitiled "The
trend of international services trde & investment" with a
particular focus on Asia and the EU.
 --------------------------------------------- ESF
Chairman Christoffer
Taxell gave a speech at the opening ceremony of the Asia-Europe
Business Forum, that took place in Beijing on 22 & 23 October 2008.
The AEBF traditionally takes place just before the the ASEM
Summit (Beijing, 24 & 25 October 2008), gathering the 43 Head of States
and Governments of the European Union (27), of the ASEAN (10), China, India,
Japan, Korea, Mongolia & Pakistan, as well as the President of the European
Commisison and the Secretary General of the ASEAN. Mr. Taxell chaired the
previous AEBF which took
place in Helsinki in September 2006.
--------------------------------------------- ESF
Chairman
Christoffer Taxell in his speech at the opening ceremony of the ASEM
Business Summit on Trade in Services, that took place in Beijing on 20 & 21
October 2008 undelined the importance importance of services in the ecomonies of
Europe and Asia, in their mutual trade and investments. He said: "Now
more than ever, it is important to keep markets open and to open those that are
closed. I would urge all governments to resist any protectionist pressure that
will undoubtedly come with the financial and economic crisis.
Now more than two weeks ago, it is important to defend the value of
globalization and the mutual promotion of our economies". The two
days event gathered more than 200 servics experts from many ASEM countries, with
a programme
dealing with transportation services, tourism, consulting services, etc. --------------------------------------------
ESF
Chairman Christoffer Taxell sent today (3rd July 2008), in advance of the
forhtcoming Special meeting of the General Affairs and External Relations
Council dedicated to WTO on 18th July, a
letter to French President Sarkozy, as current President of the European Union,
as well as to all 27 EU Heads of States and Governments and 27 EU ministers in
charge of trade issues, calling them to do all they
can to ensure a success of the ministerial meeting in Geneva later this month,
especially in securing firm indications of liberalisation from the signalling
conference on services which the Commission has rightly championed, and thus to
create the momentum for completing a successful Doha Round by the end of the
year.
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Global Services Coalition Expresses Disappointment with WTO Services Text.
In response to the
release of the
Doha
Round services text on 26th May 2008 by the Chairman of the WTO Council for
Trade in Services in Special Session, the Global
Services Coalition issued
a joint statement where signatory associations reiterated their call for strong
services offers and urged WTO
Members to quickly convene a Ministerial-level signalling conference that will
clarify and reinforce the commitments which WTO members, including those who
have advocated a substantial outcome on services, will need to make. WTO
members' real intentions for services market-opening must be clearly stated, to
pave the way for substantive and detailed discussions on balancing the three
pillars. -----------------------------------------------
The
European Services Forum (ESF) today welcomed the two revised Chairman’s papers
on agriculture and non agricultural trade in the framework of
Doha
round. (Press
Release - 22 May 2008) The publication of both texts mark an essential
outcome in the WTO talks and pave
the way for a long awaited horizontal process where trade offs with other
crucial issues like services market access will finally be discussed.
“It
is time for the negotiations to finally enter into a final stage” said
Christoffer Taxell, Chairman of ESF. “There
is an urgent need for the negotiations to now take a much wider focus that must
include services market access. Although the negotiation on services involves a
different pattern, it is nonetheless as important for international trade as the
negotiations on agriculture and industrial goods. Trade negotiators must now
engage at the highest level in global trade talks and this requires that all the
issues be on the table. A round
without a strong services package will not be balanced, so let’s now discuss
services at the ministerial level”.
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The Global Services Coalition, in a Geneva visit with 42
business services representatives from more than 15 countries, insisted that
services must be seen as one of the three key market access pillars of
the Doha Round of global trade talks, along with agriculture and
non-agricultural market access (NAMA). (Press
Statement - 16 April 2008) .
The Coalition also expressed strong support for the
"signalling exercise" - an ongoing process of bilateral meetings and
discussions among senior officials and ministers - to encourage key countries to
improve their services offers so as to demonstrate the potential benefits
available from concessions across all three pillars of the Round.
The Coalition welcomed the decision of
WTO Director General Pascal Lamy to convene, chair and report on the
Signalling Conference on services. This
conference will have the same level of political importance as the
ministerial green rooms meeting on Agriculture and NAMA , and the
unambiguous commitment of the Director General will be a tremendous asset
for its success.
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ESF and ESF Members attended the Mini Hearing
that was organised by MEP
Syed KAMALL (UK - EPP) in the European Parliament on Tuesday, 26 February 2008
on "Trade in Services", in the framework of the International
Trade Committee of the EP. ESF and three ESF Members sponsored a dinner in the
Parliament organised by Rapporteur S. Kamall, so as to pursue his consultation
in the view of the drafting of his report that is scheduled for the coming
months. The dinner gathered MEPs, academics and business representatives.
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ESF and nine other coalitions of service
industies, in the framework of the Global Services Coalition,
issued a joint
press statement on
12 February 2008, in reaction of the Report
released few hours before by Mexico Ambassador
Fernando De Mateo, Chairman of the Council for Trade in Services – Special
Session (CTS SS) on the Elements
Required for the Completion of WTO Services Negotiations.
They welcome the report as
it affirmed that services are one of the three pillars of the round. However,
the Coalition said that the report is only a start, and that an intensive and
sustained process of services negotiations must now follow. "To
ensure that services take their proper place alongside agriculture and NAMA in
the Doha Round, there needs to be an early signaling conference involving
Ministers, preferably before the conference on modalities for agriculture and
NAMA, to clarify and reinforce the commitments which WTO members will need
to make on services," said Christopher Roberts, Chairman of the policy
committee of the European Services Forum.
------------------------------------------------ On 11 December 2007, the
European Services Forum (ESF) announced the appointment of Mr. Christoffer
Taxell, Chairman of Finnair, as new ESF Chairman. On taking up his functions Mr.
Taxell reaffirmed ESF’s commitment to services liberalisation around the
world. “Internationalisation of European services companies is vital for the
strength of the European economy. Business needs to see ambitious services
commitments through the WTO and in the EU’s free trade agreements.” Mr.
Taxell’s distinguished career has included senior positions in politics,
business and academia. He was until 2006 Chairman of the ESF’s member the
Confederation of Finnish Industries EK (Christopher
Taxell Biography).
Mr. Taxell takes over
from Lord Vallance of Tummel, and thanked his predecessor for his
unfailing support for European services sectors. “Lord Vallance, during
his chairmanship of the European Services Forum and throughout his career,
has been a forceful advocate for liberalisation of services markets. I
thank him for his unswerving dedication to the organisation at a crucial
time.”
------------------------------------------------ A
strong ESF Delegation visited New Delhi on 28 - 30 November 2007, in the
framework of the 8th India-EU Business Summit that took place on 29th November,
with the participation of Trade Minister Kamal Nath and EU Trade Commissioner
Peter Mandelson. The delegation hold a seminar with Indian services
business representatives, organised jointly with the Confederation of Indian
Industry (CII), where Trade Commissoner Madelson highlighted the current
importance and the potential of the services trade between the two blocks and
their role in the sustainable economic development. .jpg)
The
delegation had also a debate on the mutual interests in the current negotiations
of the EU-India Free Trade Agreement with service companies representatives at
the premices of FICCI, the Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and
Industry. Then the delegation paid visits to many high level civil
servants in the ministry of commerce, of finance, of telecommunications, and
regulatory authorities. ------------------------------------------------
Twelve
Services Coalitions, in the framework of the Global Services Coalition,
adopted on 13 November 2007 a Joint
Statement aiming at keeping up the pressure on the content of the text
that the CTS SS
Chairman, Ambassador de Mateo, is drafting. The
statement aimed at ensuring that the text would state a high level of
ambition for the services negotiations, and fix dates for new services
offers. It carried the message that the services sectors believe
that the text should signal convincingly that the goal is to obtain the
maximum number of bindings and new market access in as many of the key
service sectors and subsectors as possible. It suggested many elements
that this text should embrace. The statement has been sent to the
negotiators in Geneva and in the various capitals in advance of the CTS SS
meeting hold on 15 November, where WTO Members gave their first reactions
to the Chairman’s report after its round of consultation.
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Services
Commitments must be part of the final EPAs:Lord Vallance of Tummel,
Chairman of the European Service Forum, sent a letter
to EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson, EU Development Commissioner Louis
Michel and the EU 27 Trade Ministers on the necessity to ensure that the
European Partnership Agreements will include, in their final stage, commitments
in the main services sectors, as to unleash the potential of trade to create
employment and growth in the private sector of the EPA regions.
Although ESF understands the need to accept interim agreements on goods only
(including trade facilitation) for those EPA regions that are not ready to
conclude a full agreement, it should be clear that such interim agreements can
in no way be seen by the negotiating partners, or by industry in
Europe
, as a satisfactory result.
ESF therefore asked the Commissioners and Ministers to ensure that the
interim agreements contain binding commitments to continue negotiations.
Experience has shown that a review clause does not always fulfil its purpose.
Our EPA partners must now fully engage in negotiations on the remaining issues
to give investors transparent and secure conditions to participate in the
development of the often missing infrastructure of the economy of these regions.
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The
European Services Forum and the International Trade Policy
Unit of the London Scholl of
Economics and Political Science organised a Conference on:
“WHY
SERVICES ARE CRUCIAL FOR CONCLUDING THE
DOHA
ROUND”.
The event took place in London at the London School
of Economics on 15
October 2007. In his Keynote
Speech, Mr.
Pascal Lamy, Director General of the World Trade
Organisation (WTO) said that the services revolution has transformed the
way we live and work… "Aided by technology, millions of financial,
banking, insurance, accountancy, retail, media and travel transactions are
conducted daily across borders" he said. He reaffirmed that services
are a critical component of the Doha Round. Positive results are needed in
services so as to complete the single undertaking. He highlighted that
greater ambition in the services negotiations presupposes careful domestic
preparation and coordination across a wide range of ministries and agencies.
He underlined the fact that “political ambition is the element that has been
missing from the services negotiations and which is urgently needed to ensure
substantive progress” (This speech is also availalbe on the WTO
Website).
Lord
Vallance of Tummel, Chairman
of the European Services Forum introduced the Conference (Speech)
and Mr. Peter
Sutherland, Former
Director General of GATT & WTO, and Chairman of
Goldman Sachs presented the view of the businesses, the benefits of services
liberalisation on the world economy and called upon the WTO chiefs negotiators
to take their responsabilities so as to conclude the round (Speaking
Notes). ESF issued a press
statment at the end of the event, welcoming Lamy's speech at this crucial
moment of the Doha Round.
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Please make all inquiries by email
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